Former nurse and gardener sentenced to life imprisonment over R6 million insurance murder plot
The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has sentenced former nurse Hapiness Sithembile Xulu (49) and her former gardener Simon Isaac Mogale (40) to life imprisonment for the murder of Busisiwe Nxumalo.
According to court evidence, Nxumalo, who was Xulu’s stepdaughter and domestic worker, moved from KwaZulu-Natal to Johannesburg in 2021 to live and work for Xulu.
The court heard that Xulu allegedly opened a bank account in Nxumalo’s name and fraudulently took out four life and funeral insurance policies worth about R6 million, naming herself as the sole beneficiary.
Only four months after the policies were issued, Nxumalo was murdered.
Insurance companies reportedly became suspicious due to the short period between the policies being taken out and the claim being submitted. Investigations later exposed the alleged fraud scheme.
Mogale was convicted after a confession admitted in court revealed that Xulu allegedly drove him to a veld near Daxina Hospital where Nxumalo was lying unconscious, handed him a knife, and promised him R60 000 to kill her.
In addition to life imprisonment for murder, Xulu was sentenced to seven years imprisonment on each of four fraud counts after pleading guilty to unlawfully taking out insurance policies in the deceased’s name.
The court described Xulu as the mastermind behind the scheme, saying the murder was motivated by financial gain.
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