Man gets life for murdering his girlfriend in staged hijacking

Phillip Mpotle, the man who worked with two accomplices to kill his girlfriend, Anna Pule, in a staged hijacking in 2021, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. 

The Free State high court, sitting in Welkom, on Thursday also sentenced Mojaki Phara, 28, to life imprisonment and Sbongile Soul, 36, to a 23-year jail term. 

The court heard how Mpotle, 31, approached Phara and another person named Gift to kill Pule, 24, a student at Central University of Technology. Phara had reportedly been reluctant to kill Pule as she reminded him of his sister.

At a later stage, Mpotle approached Phara and said he would kill his girlfriend in a staged hijacking, but needed Phara to take the car from the scene with the deceased's body and get rid of it. 

On May 13 2021, Mpotle drove with Pule and their three-year-old baby from Theunissen to Hennenman. They picked up Phara and Soul, who pretended they were hitchhiking. 

“Phara took out a knife and pretended to threaten Mpotle, but he gave the knife to Mpotle, who stabbed Pule several times. Phara and Soul drove off with the body of Pule in the car while Mpotle went to the Theunissen police station to report a ‘hijacking’,” said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Phaladi Shuping.

Investigators traced Pule's cellphone to someone in Wesselsbron, and the person told them that he bought the phone from Phara.

All three suspects were arrested after police noticed discrepancies in their statements. 

“It later transpired that Mpotle had taken out a R70,000 funeral policy at Old Mutual for Pule on April 24 2021.” This was less than a month before the murder.

Mpotle promised Phara and Soul R25,000 each from the payout.

Prosecutor Moipone Moroka called for harsh punishment.  

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