Bushbuckridge Cop Turns Herself In for Kidnap, Murder of ‘Casanova’ Husband and One of 2 Girlfriends
- A female police sergeant has handed herself over at the Bushbuckridge police station for kidnapping and murder
- Officer Nyiko Nyathi, who is employed at the same station, will appear in the Bushbuckridge Magistrate's Court
- Nyathi is accused of plotting the February 2024 kidnapping and murder of her husband near Boikutsong Trust
- Brigadier Donald Mdhuli detailed to Briefly News how one of Mashego's girlfriends was robbed, shot and killed
Source: Original
Tshepiso Mametela is a seasoned journalist and the Head of Current Affairs at Briefly News. He reported live from President Cyril Ramaphosa's inauguration and has written articles on politics, crime, courts, accidents, and topics including sports at The Herald and Opera News SA over several years.
BUSHBUCKRIDGE — A Mpumalanga female sergeant is in custody after handing herself to police for an alleged kidnapping and murder plot.
The officer reported herself at the Bushbuckridge police station on Monday, 10 March 2025, before appearing in the Bushbuckridge Magistrate's Court.
Alleged murderous hands herself over
Nyiko Nyathi faces two murders — that of her husband and another woman — and a kidnapping charge.
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According to police, in February 2024, a group of armed men accosted and attacked Lawrence Mashego at his home in Boikutsong Trust. He was found with a woman described as the first of his two girlfriends.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Donald Mdhuli told Briefly News the suspects coerced him into revealing where he kept more money and stole a Toyota Quantum minibus taxi and a Ford Escort found at the property.
He said the perpetrators took them 25km away to a house in Zoeknog A, where they found Victoria Lebyane, Mashego's second girlfriend, and with whom he had left some of his bank cards.
The suspects robbed Lebyane, 44, of about R4,000 in cash. They then took the bank cards in her possession before shooting and killing her. The men fled, again taking Mashego, 44, and the first woman.
"Along the way, the kidnappers shot and killed Mashego, and dumped his body next to Dwarsloop. They later released his first girlfriend unharmed along the way," Mdhuli told Briefly News.
A thorough investigation led to the arrest of four suspects. Following a guilty plea, the court sentenced one accused to 77 years in prison.
A trial was held for three others, who have all since been convicted and incarcerated. A further investigation fingered Nyathi, 42, with whom Mashego had two children, as the alleged mastermind behind his murder.
A second murder charge was added after her arrest.
Source: UGC
Mdhuli, who said Nyathi worked at the Bushbuckridge police station, said a motive for her alleged plot to kill Mashego was under investigation.
She is expected to appear for a second court appearance for a formal bail application on Wednesday, 12 March.
Mpumalanga Acting Provincial Commissioner, Maj-Gen Zeph Mkhwanazi, applauded the officer's arrest.
"The SAPS [South African Police Service] remains resolute and will not tolerate any criminality within our ranks," said Mkhwanazi.
Police arrests in South Africa
According to a December 2023 press release from the Democratic Alliance (DA), 5,489 officers have been arrested for various crimes since 2019.
These included serious offences such as murder and rape, attempted murder and kidnapping. Despite their arrests, SAPS still employed 3,981 of the officers.
Then DA Member of Parliament (MP) Ockert "Okkie" Terblanche, who served as Shadow Deputy Police Minister from 2019 until he retired from politics in 2024, said despite the high number of arrests, only 430 convictions had been secured in the four years until 2023.
Notably, on 5 November 2021, former police officer Rosemary Ndlovu was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted in the deaths of six people – her live-in partner and five of her relatives – between 2012 and 2018.
Terblanche said the justice system's overall inaction sent a clear message to ordinary law-abiding citizens that the police were above the law and free from consequence management.
Cop turns himself in for double killing
In a related story, Briefly News reported that a constable handed himself to the police for an alleged double murder in Embalenhle on Saturday, 11 January.
It follows the discovery by an elderly woman in the community of two injured men lying motionless a few meters apart next to a road.
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Source: Briefly News
