The High Court in Bloemfontein on Wednesday reserved judgement in the murder trial of IT consultant Muziwendoda Kunene.
Judge MH Rampai postponed the case to May 26 for judgement.
Kunene, 45, of Ballito, Mumukeleni Khoza, 26, and Mphakamiseni Khumalo, 21, both of Msinga near Greytown, are accused of kidnapping and murdering Ballito estate agent Lynne Hume in October 2007.
The state alleges that Hume, 47, was driven to a dirt road near Kestell in the eastern Free State and was shot in the passenger seat of her white Volvo on October 23, 2007. The vehicle was then set alight.
Kunene claimed in his defence that Hume was murdered as part of a conspiracy against him, which was initiated at the beginning of the African National Congress’s (ANC) hoax email case.
Kunene was one of three men accused of and later acquitted in the email case, in which ANC members were alleged to have conspired against then ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma, who is now the country’s president.
An affidavit by a dead policeman, Superintendent Zethembe Chonco, was handed in as part of Kunene’s defence.
It details an elaborate plan to kill Hume and implicates the former presidency, Chonco and other police.
Kunene also submitted that his son, whose testimony had put him on the murder scene, was part of the conspiracy.
The state expressed the view that Kunene had in fact written the affidavit, not Chonco.
Kunene, Khoza and Khumalo face additional charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances and fraud. — Sapa