Cape Town - Whatsapp messages between two siblings accused of fraud and money laundering related to the death of Noem my Skollie actor David “Gums” Manuel, showed they made effort to ensure greater insurance policy payouts would be made, mere days before the actor’s brutal murder.
Siblings Wanda Mbele and Sindiswa Mbele were arrested and charged with fraud and money laundering soon after Manuel and his best friend Alfonso Fisher were murdered on October 8 in NY 141, Gugulethu.
The siblings appeared at the Athlone Magistrates Court yesterday. The State read out a supplementary affidavit in opposition of their bail application.
The WhatsApp messages show conversations between the two accused, in which the brother said he had just returned from Capitec to increase the policy taken out.
He then says, “this is scary” and “I know, but they are going to die Sindi”.
The State said the messages showed that both applicants had knowledge that the two men were going to be killed soon.
On October 4, both applicants had a conversation on WhatsApp about increasing the cover amount for David’s brother, Patrick Manuel.
On October 12, Wanda sent an email to the office of Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie, referring to himself as a concerned neighbour of the deceased artist. The State said there were deleted messages on Wanda’s phone, which needed to be restored.
There is a voicenote in which Wanda said he had instructed Sindiswa to go to the police station for an affidavit for the identification purposes of David.
She would then take the affidavit to a contact Wanda had at Home Affairs who would assist her in obtaining a birth certificate so that she could identify the deceased at the state mortuary.
The matter is postponed to December 3 for judgment in the bail application.
Cape Argus