Policewoman found guilty of murdering husband after argument over sangoma.
A domestic fight that led to murder started with a husband seeing an alert by a vehicle tracker that the family car was in a high-risk area in Soshanguve, north of Tshwane.
Russel Hlongwane, 40, drove to the location where he found his wife, Kate Lindiwe Hlongwane, consulting a sangoma.
He instructed her to return home, and they drove back in separate vehicles to their residence in Soshanguve Extension 7.
The Pretoria high court heard that later that night, on January 27 2024, he confronted Hlongwane about her visit to the sangoma and an argument ensued.
He told her he would take her to his parents’ house “to learn discipline”.
They loaded some of her clothes into their vehicle and drove away together. In the early hours on January 28 they returned home.
Soon afterwards, Hlongwane, then a police sergeant attached to the Dube station under the visible policing unit, shot her husband several times with her service pistol.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said the court last week found her guilty of the premeditated murder of her husband, who was the father of their three children.
Her conduct came under scrutiny during the trial.
The alarm was first sounded by the family’s domestic worker, who heard the car return and gunshots shortly after. She went outside to investigate.
“She met Hlongwane, who ignored her when she asked about her husband’s whereabouts,” Mahanjana said.
“The helper found the deceased lying on the ground outside their gate and bleeding profusely next to a neighbour’s house.”
A neighbour, who also heard the gunshots, rushed the victim to Akasia Hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
Hlongwane had pleaded not guilty, claiming the firearm discharged accidentally during a struggle with her husband.
Advocate Vhungani Khoza, for the prosecution, presented expert ballistic evidence which contradicted her version. The ballistic expert, trained in distance determination and wound analysis, demonstrated that the shots were fired from a distance, disproving her claim.
Judge Papi Mosopa said the accused’s version was “unconvincing and improbable”. He found the state’s case credible and unchallenged.
The case has been postponed to December 1 for sentencing proceedings.
