Nurse on trial for murder is pleading with the court to release her on bail.
A nurse accused of orchestrating the murder of her domestic worker to cash out a R6m insurance claim, is asking the court to release her on bail. She is said to have pleaded not guilty to all charges against her and also asked the court to grant her bail because she suffers from an illness.
She said, “I do not agree to these charges, I did not commit any offence. If I’m denied bail, I would suffer prejudice because I suffer from an illness. My children would suffer the consequences (and) the payment of my home loan would be in danger, and my colleagues and parents would also suffer prejudices.”
Sithembile Happiness Xulu, 48, works at the Alberton Clinic in Ekurhuleni. She and her co-accused, Gardner, Simon Mogale face three counts of fraud, murder and defeating the ends of justice. Xulu distanced herself from Nxumalo’s murder and said she intended to plead not guilty.
She stated that she was willing to to pay between R3,000 and R5,000 for bail. SowetanLIVE reports that life policies with three different insurance companies were taken out in Nxumalo’s name but were frozen on fraud suspicion. Charge sheet also reveals that Xulu took a R2m life cover policy from the different insurance companies in Nxumalo’s name.
The charge sheet reads that Xulu “did unlawfully and with intent to defraud misrepresent to King Price Life Insurance that she is Busisiwe Nxumalo when taking out the life cover policy to the value of R2m”.
Xulu is said to have taken out the life cover from OutSurance and 1 Life Insurance. Police arrested her at her home in Vosloorus last month, while Mogale was caught in Limpopo.
“I suffer from diabetes. If I am kept in custody for a long time, I won’t survive. There are types of medication that are not allowed in prison,” said Xulu.
