Judge’s killer wife wins right to appeal

Convicted murderer Thandi Maqubela was granted leave to appeal her murder conviction in the Cape High Court.

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Cape Town - Convicted murderer Thandi Maqubela was granted leave to appeal her murder conviction in the Western Cape High Court on Friday.

While the court accepted that another court could come to a different conclusion on the murder conviction, it however refused her leave to appeal her fraud and forgery convictions

Earlier this year, Maqubela was convicted of the murder of her husband, acting Judge Ntobeko Patrick Maqubela, and sentenced to an effective 18 years in jail.

The judge’s decomposing body was discovered in his luxury Bantry Bay flat two days after he was murdered in June 2009. Following the discovery of his body, it became apparent that the judge had been suffocated with a piece of cling wrap.

Maqubela was sentenced to 15 years in jail on the murder charge. She was also sentenced to three years each for fraud and forgery after she altered her husband’s will. The court had ordered that these sentences would run concurrently.

ANA