On September 14 2002, 59-year-old businesswoman Rahda Govender was viciously murdered in her home in what initially appeared to be a home invasion gone wrong.
When the investigating officer arrested two men weeks later, however, they had a very different story to tell about how they came to be in the Govender’s home that night. Soon, a third suspect would enter the fray, and the identity and age of the person would shock SA and the Govender family.
In October 2002, a 12-year-old Pietermaritzburg girl was arrested on suspicion of murder. The girl, dubbed “P”, would soon become South Africa’s youngest convicted murderer. She murdered her grandmother.
After drugging her victim, she approached two men, Sipho Hadebe and Vusi Tshabalala, and asked them to kill her. They were given some items such as clothes, jewelry, a video machine and a decoder she had stolen from the house as their payments.
The two men, who confessed to the murder, said they were approached by the 12-year-old, who showed them photographs of her parents and said the grandmother had killed them.(Both parents are alive).
The men she allegedly hired for the murder were given three-year jail terms for theft, in addition to the 25 years for the murder.
She was only fourteen when found guilty in the Pietermaritzburg High Court of murdering Radha Govender, a Pietermaritzburg socialite, two years ago.
Free since June 17, 2007, after serving her house-arrest and correctional supervision sentence, the young woman, who still lives in the provincial capital, says she has a clear conscience.
SHOWNOTES:
Host: Nicole Engelbrecht
Producer: Nicole Engelbrecht
Music: Snippet from Prime Circle’s Evidence
We would love to meet you on our Social media Platforms, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Join us now. We have a lively discussion Group on Facebook.
Please support the show on Patreon
Please Support the show on PayPal
Helplines
If you’re in South Africa, you can always, always phone SADAG on 0800 456 789
24-hr trauma helpline 082-821-3447
