A man was charged with murder of pregnant woman found hanging from tree in South Africa.
The stabbed body of 28-year-old Tshegofatso Pule, who was eight months pregnant, was found Monday in a tree in Roodepoort, about 15 miles northwest of Johannesburg, local newspaper, Sowetan Live, reported Tuesday, 9th June.
Mzikayise Malephane, 31, was charged with premeditated murder of Tshegofatso Pule, after appearing in court on Wednesday, the BBC reported.
He had been arrested on Monday.
Pule, from Meadowlands, Soweto — about nine miles from the crime scene — was last seen Thursday night when she told family she went to see her boyfriend, who lives in Florida, about six miles south in the nearby province of Gauteng. A relative said she was spotted getting into an Uber ordered by the boyfriend – four days after she went missing.
A community member found Pule “hanging from a tree” before alerting authorities, Gauteng Police spokesman Capt. Kay Makhubele told Sowetan, adding the victim “is also confirmed to be pregnant.”
A relative said Pule called the family saying she and her boyfriend had fought and she was returning home. The family couldn’t reach her between Friday and Sunday and her phone was off, the family member said.
On Sunday, after trying and failing to reach Pule’s boyfriend, her family decided to open a missing person’s case, the relative said.
“We cannot speculate about what led to her death, but we know things were not well with her boyfriend,” the family member said. “His wife also knew about Tshego and she was always fighting with her.”
Meanwhile, officials have not said whether Pule knew Malephane, who did not enter a plea during his court appearance.
In order for Malephane to get legal representation, his case will not resume until June 24.
Pule’s death has led to widespread unrest in South Africa. The hashtag #JusticeForTshego began trending.
Last year, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa dubbed the country one of “the most unsafe places in the world to be a woman.”
Over the weekend, he spoke out against gender-based violence.
“We note with disgust that at a time when the country is facing the gravest of threats from the (coronavirus) pandemic, violent men are taking advantage of the eased restrictions on movement to attack women and children,” he said in a statement.
In 2019, crime statistics showed that 2,930 adult women in South Africa had been murdered during a 12-month span from 2017 to 2018 — about one murder per three hours.
