A look into the brutal murder of Tshegofatso Pule is a grim reminder that gender-based violence (GBV) is as prevalent in South Africa today as it was the first time we condemned it.
Who was Tshegofatso Pule?
Shortly after the case of Naledi Phangindawo made headlines, the family of Tshegofatso Pule raised awareness about her disappearance, hoping for leads on her whereabouts.
Pule was a 28-year-old mother-to-be from Roodepoort, Johannesburg. By all accounts, she was on the verge of embarking on a new journey as a primary caregiver to a newborn that was expected to be delivered in a month.
However, something tragic happened to Pule, one that police can’t seem to wrap their heads around.
What happened to the Roodepoort mom-to-be?
Based on details offered by Pule’s family to Sowetan, the last time anyone heard from Pule was when she left her boyfriend’s residence after an argument. That was on the evening of Thursday 4 June 2020.
According to the relative, Pule had left her residence, telling everyone that she was headed to her boyfriend’s place but called hours later saying she had fought with him and that she was on her way back home.
“She got into a fight with her boyfriend and demanded to leave. We tried calling her later that night but we couldn’t get through to her. We called again from Friday until Sunday but her phone was off,” the relative told the cited publication.
Reports of her disappearance flooded social media and soon enough, people came forward with claims of the last time she was seen alive.
Tshegofatso Pule murder: The timeline and evidence
The existence of this security camera footage was not confirmed nor denied by Gauteng police spokesperson Kay Makhubele. It seems the investigation is rather centred around an Uber driver who, according to the family, was the one who picked up Pule from the boyfriend’s residence.
“We tried calling the boyfriend and couldn’t reach him and that’s when we decided to open a missing person’s case at Meadowlands [police station] on Sunday,” the family member added.
For three long and strenuous days, it appeared that Pule, a woman in the last lap of her third trimester, had fallen off the face of the earth along with the last person to see her alive.
That was until the family was contacted on Monday, by a person who claimed to have seen her.
“Someone contacted us in the morning [yesterday] and told us he might have seen her. He showed us a picture of her and we knew it was her,” the relative revealed.
The anonymous tipster led the family to an open field in Florida, Roodepoort, where they discovered Pule’s lifeless body hanging from a tree with stab wounds on her left breast.
According to Makhubele, no leads have led to arrests and detectives have yet to call in a person of interest for questioning.
Who are the suspects in the case?
In criminology, it is widely known that deaths of this nature are largely linked to a person the victim knew. In most cases, crimes of passion are as gory as Pule’s condition.
This casts a shadow of suspicion on her boyfriend who, according to the relative, was caught in the middle of a love triangle since the boyfriend was, in fact, a married man.
“We cannot speculate about what led to her death, but we know things were not well with her boyfriend. His wife also knew about Tshego and she was always fighting with her,” the relative claimed
There is also the possibility that the person who picked Pule up from his residence was involved in the heinous murder.
From what we know, detectives have enough material evidence to, at the very least, identify a suspect in the murder.
This is a developing story and we will provide updates as they filter through.
