A woman has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for hiring a hitman to kill her wealthy hotelier husband, who was stabbed multiple times before being thrown into his swimming pool.
Suretha Brits, 31, pleaded guilty to hiring a hitman to kill 41-year-old Leon Brits at his home in the town of Pofadder in the South African province of Northern Cape on 7th October last year.
The hotelier’s death was reported by his wife, who said she discovered his body when she went looking for him because he was not answering his phone.
The High Court in the city of Upington handed the defendant a 25-year prison sentence for murder and a 15-year sentence for robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The defendant pleaded guilty to both charges and is expected to serve 25 years, as the two sentences will run concurrently.
Another suspect who was arrested, 37-year-old Jacques van Vuuren, entered into a plea bargain with the authorities and was sentenced to 25 years behind bars for murder with five years suspended, 15 years for aggravated robbery, and three years for unlawful possession of a firearm.
His prison terms will also run concurrently and, as such, he is expected to serve 20 years in total.
Van Vuuren had claimed in his plea agreement that the victim had assaulted the defendant, had had an affair with another woman, and had threatened to take custody of the couple’s children.
Van Vuuren claimed that the defendant had “constantly pestered” him to carry out her “dirty work” since September, and added that she was willing to pay him ZAR 400,000 (GBP 19,339) and also give him her diamond ring worth ZAR 125,000 (GBP 6,048) in return, according to the news site TimesLIVE.
The two other defendants facing murder and robbery charges, Enrich Williams, 34, and Amantle Bareki, 24, are expected to face trial on 22nd November 2021 at the Circuit High Court in Upington. In some reports, their ages were given as 35 and 26 respectively.
