Couple arrested for murder of father over a loan dispute appear in court
Killed with a sickle
Prem Balram and Vinod Balram, of Reaction Unit South Africa, with the accused, Nicolene Pillay and Mevendran Reddy.
Image: Reaction Unit South Africa
A NORTH Coast couple, accused of killing a single father with a sickle in front of his six-year-old daughter, have been remanded in police custody until next week.
Nicolene Pillay and Mevendran Reddy, charged with the murder of Ngaka Doctor Mphuthi, of Shakas Head, appeared in the Kwadukuza Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.
They were remanded in custody until their bail application next week.
Mphuthi, 33, died from stab wounds to his stomach, rib cage and chest, on Saturday.
The couple appeared in court on Wednesday.
Image: Supplied
The attack allegedly stemmed from a dispute over a R750 loan from a loan shark.
Mphuthi's mother-in-law, Lorraine Dhavasiam, 56, said he had stood as a guarantor for the couple, who were his tenants. They had allegedly borrowed money from a loan shark.
“The loan for R750 was taken three months ago. When they failed to pay the money back, the loan shark became angry and began putting pressure on my son-in-law,” alleged Dhavasiam.
“On Saturday at about 11.30am, Mphuthi was walking to a local store with my granddaughter, who is six years old, when the loan shark spotted him and assaulted him. He was furious because the tenants had not paid him back. Mphuthi was upset that he had been assaulted in front of his daughter. He returned home and confronted the female tenant,” said Dhavasiam.
“He told her that he had been assaulted by the loan shark and that she should tell her husband to pay back the money immediately. She became upset. The woman screamed at Mphuthi and told him that her husband was going to return home later that day and kill him. At that time, we thought she said it out of anger. Little did we realise that her words would come true later that evening."
She said at around 6.20pm, the woman’s husband returned home, there was a confrontation and she heard screams.
“Mphuthi was stabbed and left for dead. His daughter watched in shock."
She said they rushed him to the local clinic where he was declared dead on arrival.
Mphuthi was married to Dhavasiam’s daughter, Tansyn Joan Theophilous, 27, who died of septicemia in 2020.
“They were together for nine years. Mphuthi treated her well and he was a responsible, hard working person. He was an amazing father to my granddaughter and it is sad that she is now an orphan. Mphuthi and I shared a close bond. He was more like my son than my son-in-law. We always joked about him adopting me. I lived with him after my daughter died so that I could help him raise my granddaughter.
“I pray that his killers face the full might of the law. We appeal to people who witnessed Mphuthi ’s murder to come forward and give information to the police. We cannot allow people who kill others in brutal ways to walk free and live among us,” Dhavasiam added.
She said her granddaughter was undergoing trauma counselling
On Monday, officers from Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) tracked down the suspects and handed them over to the Umhlali SAPS.
Prem Balram, the head of Rusa, said after they had circulated information about the suspects on social media, they received calls from Johannesburg, Richards Bay and Pietermaritzburg, with people giving them leads.
“We got information of the suspects hiding in a house in Shakas Head, and during our search, we found the man hiding under a huge pile of clothes.
“The woman tried to flee with the baby when she spotted us, but we apprehended her. Their three-year-old child has been removed from their custody and is in the care of a relative,” Balram said.