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Woman who ordered hit on husband to cash policies sentenced to life

Ernest Mabuza Journalist
Phumaphi Gwebu.
Phumaphi Gwebu.
Image: NPA Communications.

A 47-year-old woman who paid hitmen R20,000 to kill her husband so she could cash in on insurance policies in 2019 was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Mpumalanga High Court on Monday. 

Phumaphi Gloria Gwebu and her husband Sipho Shadrack Dimba, 52 lived together at Msogwaba Trust with their children.  

Gwebu pleaded guilty. 

In her plea explanation, Gwebu stated she took out five insurance policies for Dimba, one of which was to pay R530,000 upon his death.  

“She waited until the policies matured and arranged with the hitmen a few weeks before they killed the deceased,” National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said. 

On December 12 2019, the hitmen entered the house during the night, as arranged, and murdered Dimba.  

They went straight to the bed where he was sleeping, strangled him with Gwebu present and threw his body into a nearby river before fleeing. 

His body was found two days later. 

“The accused was arrested a year later after one of the killers confessed to the police and implicated her as the mastermind behind the murder.” 

Prosecutor advocate Eugene Mathebula told the court the murder was premeditated, brutal and triggered by greed.  

The court found no reason to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment. 

TimesLIVE


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