By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former JSE analyst Ntuthuko Shoba has been denied leave to appeal against his conviction and life sentence for the murder of his girlfriend, 28-year-old Tshegofatso Pule.
Shoba appeared in the Johannesburg High Court on Monday after lodging his appeal through his lawyer Louis Bernard last week Friday.
He was sentenced to life behind bars in July, after he was found guilty of premeditated murder for masterminding the killing of his eight-month pregnant girlfriend, Pule.
In handing down his ruling, Judge Stuart Wilson said there was no sufficiently compelling reason to grant leave to appeal.
“To do so, would be no more than an exercise in judicial vanity and one which would only lengthen the dull dragging agony that these proceedings have no doubt imposed on Pule’s family and friends.”
“I put to Barnard that if I was right to convict Ntuthuko Shoba, than I mut have been right to sentence him as I did. Barnard offered no repast. For all these reasons, the advocation for leave to appeal for both conviction and sentence is refused,” Judge Wilson said.
Pule’s murder sent shockwaves across the country after she was found shot and hanged from a tree in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, on 4 June 2020.
The 28-year-old beautician was murdered by self-confessed gunman Muzikayise Malephane, who in 2020 confessed to the killing and turned state witness.
Malephane had confessed to the crime and implicated Shoba as the mastermind, saying he had wanted Pule killed because he was afraid his fiancée would find out about his affair with her.
Malephane is currently serving 20 years in prison after being sentenced in February 2021.