Deokaran assassinated because she was 'creating problems at work', court told
The six men who were arrested for Babita Deokaran's murder in 2021 on Tuesday entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the State.
JOHANNESBURG - Babita Deokaran was indeed assassinated because she was "creating problems at work," according to the men who now admit they helped eliminate her.
The six men who were arrested for the whistleblower's murder in 2021 on Tuesday entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the State.
They’ve now admitted to and have been convicted of the crime.
They’ve also received various prison terms of between six and 22 years in return.
the plea and sentence agreement was read on record at the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday.
The plea and sentence agreement revealed that accused 1, Phakamani Hadebe, was approached by an individual identified as Khanyisani Mpungose in the weeks ahead of Deokaran’s death.
Ppungose advised him that Deokaran was "a problem" and "created problems at work" and that she had to be "dealt with", although, importantly, it was clear he was not talking about his own work and rather that he was speaking on behalf of someone else.
Hadebe subsequently recruited the remaining accused before court and, ultimately, they have now admitted that, together with Mpungose and another man whose identity is unknown to them, they assassinated Deokaran on 23 August 2021.
Mpungose and the other unknown man are understood to have been the shooters but the accused before court admitted they were all acting with a common purpose and were found guilty of murder, with dolus eventualis as the form of intent.
