The murder-accused widow of acting judge Patrick Maqubela did not use his phone the day he was killed to call her co-accused, the court heard.
|||Cape Town - The murder-accused widow of acting judge Patrick Maqubela did not use his phone the day he was killed to call her co-accused, the Western Cape High Court heard on Tuesday.
The State cross-examined Thandi Maqubela on three outgoing calls recorded on his phone on the morning of June 5, 2009: to her employer Forever Living Products, to a female friend, and to her co-accused Vela Mabena.
Two other calls were then made from Mabena's phone to her husband's phone.
Maqubela and Mabena have pleaded not guilty to killing the judge that day in his apartment in Bantry Bay.
Bonnie Currie-Gawmo, for the State, said it was odd that the judge would call his wife's company's head office in Cape Town.
Maqubela said she had received an incentive to travel to the United States in August and that she was allowed to bring a partner.
She speculated her husband had phoned her office to submit his travel documents and to finalise arrangements.
Currie-Gawmo said the judge would not have been able to go on the trip because court was in session in August and September.
She said it was unlikely he would phone her woman friend and Mabena, especially because she had testified her husband did not know him.
Maqubela replied: “I didn't make those calls. I never used my husband's phone unless we were in the same car or sitting together.”
She previously testified she contacted Mabena that Friday to arrange a meeting to hand over a book he wanted.
However, the State said there was no record on any of her three phones of a call placed to Mabena that day.
“I remember calling each other. I think he was saying he was on his way and then I must direct him. I can't remember if I directed him,” Maqubela replied.
The court heard the calls triggered a base station at the President Hotel in Bantry Bay, where the Maqubelas had an apartment.
“The only explanation for these calls is that you made them. Your husband had no reason to,” Currie-Gamwo suggested.
Maqubela denied the assertion. She testified she did not have access to her husband's phone from Friday to Sunday.
The trial continues. - Sapa