{"id":28803,"date":"2025-03-06T05:00:05","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T03:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/?p=28803"},"modified":"2025-03-05T17:18:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T15:18:51","slug":"soshanguve-killer-couple-back-in-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/2025\/03\/06\/soshanguve-killer-couple-back-in-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Soshanguve killer couple back in court"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Convicted killer-couple, Lerato and Sibusiso Mahlangu, return to the Pretoria High Court this morning for pre-sentencing proceedings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In November, the pair were convicted for orchestrating the brutal murder of Lerato\u2019s ex-partner and father of her child, Sibusiso Sithebe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The couple, found guilty of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and fraud, will argue for leniency before the court determines their final sentence.<\/p>\n

The Mahlangus\u2019 crime was part of a plan to stage a fake death and claim over half a million rand in an insurance payout.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Together, they lured Sithebe to their home in January 2022; got him intoxicated, and ultimately burnt him alive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His body was discovered charred beyond recognition in the couple’s home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In an explosive twist in the case, Sibusiso previously took to the stand confessing to the killing of Sithebe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s insisted he acted alone, despite the state\u2019s evidence that the couple worked together to lure Sithebe to their home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The prosecution has suggested that Lerato’s participation in the crime was driven by financial gain, alleging she helped her husband stage his own death and evade capture for over a year.<\/p>\n

In April 2023, Mahlangu was eventually arrested in Hammanskraal after spending more than a year on the run.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During the pre-sentencing hearing, Lerato is expected to take the stand once more, attempting to convince the court why she should receive a lenient sentence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Court proceedings were delayed yesterday due to a power failure at court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Convicted killer-couple, Lerato and Sibusiso Mahlangu, return to the Pretoria High Court this morning for pre-sentencing proceedings.\u00a0 In November, the pair were convicted for orchestrating the brutal murder of Lerato\u2019s ex-partner and father of her child, Sibusiso Sithebe.\u00a0 The couple, found guilty of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and fraud, ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":28805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AEAE73DB-F916-4DD8-A4AD-B17922BF7807.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28803"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28808,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28803\/revisions\/28808"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}