The 41-year-old woman allegedly wanted to have her husband Leshiba Oscar Tau killed in May 2022, but her attempts were foiled by security agents. She is now facing a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Leshiba applied for bail in terms of Section 49(g) of the Correctional Services Act, and appeared before court on June 3 and 5, and stated that she would report at Galeshewe Police Station every day if she was granted bail. She added she would be staying with a family friend in Galeshewe, Kimberley. In countering the application, the Guardian investigating officer told the court that during the time of her arrest on May 15, 2022, she was already an illegal migrant in the country as her days were depleted. He said should she be released, both the family friend and herself would be arrested. The family friend would be arrested for abating an illegal foreigner as well.
The State testified that Leshiba is not eligible for Section 49(g) because during her trial she had applied for bail several times and was denied. The judgment for that bail application was given last week in the negative. She will be appearing on trial continuation on June 21, July 5 and August 5, 2024. For her previous bail application in July 2023, Leshiba told the court that her son, who was doing Form 2, had no one to look after him since the person who was taking care of him had passed on. She said her brother, who was living with her son, committed suicide on June 22, 2023. She also bemoaned that the State is taking time as it always sets a month or two apart from the next trial dates.
The State argued that even if she could get bail, she wouldn't be able to take care of her son as the bail conditions wouldn't allow her to travel outside the country. The State also argued that she is a flight risk who just wants to get released and skip the country back to Botswana. They also argued that the trial is nearly complete as there are only three witnesses left before it is completed. Leshiba would later in August 2023 launch a trial within a trial in which she challenged the conduct of agents who used information technology gadgets to arrest her. She wanted their evidence thrown out.
The judgment came in favour of the State, no evidence was adduced by the defence that the agents contravened guidelines of Section 252(a). Following a joint operation by members of the Northern Cape Provincial Organised Crime and Kimberley Crime Intelligence, Leshiba was arrested at the Indian Centre in Kimberley when she allegedly engaged hitmen to murder her estranged husband. Following a weeklong intelligence gathering and surveillance, the team executed the arrest with the assistance of agents who posed as the said hitmen. It is alleged that Leshiba wanted the hitmen to kidnap and kill her husband and promised to pay them a substantial amount after the hit. According to information The Monitor gathered, the duo married sometime in September 2021. However, months later she wanted her husband dead so she could have all his money. It is alleged that Tau only knew after his wife was arrested that she wanted him dead. “She consulted someone and asked them to assist with looking for hitmen to kill her husband and offered them money. “The person(s) would then go to the police and disguised as hitmen. They had many meetings and gathered lots of information before an arrest was eventually made,” a source in the case said.
It is alleged that Leshiba planned that her husband would be kidnapped and forced to transfer all his money into a certain account whose card Leshiba held before having him killed. She was to then pay the guns for hire from the money in the transfer after clearing all other accounts. Judgment for the bail hearing will be given on August 3.
The trial will proceed on August 25.
