Murder suspect Agnes Segomotsi Setshwantsho has been ordered back in custody until her next appearance in court.
The 49-year-old, who is accused of killing her relatives for insurance claims, appeared in the Mmabatho magistrate’s court in North West on Friday.
Setshwantsho faces charges of murder, two counts of fraud and defeating the ends of justice. The case was postponed to November 24.
This after she was arrested in Centurion in Pretoria during a takedown operation that was led by the SA Police Service and an insurance company on Thursday.
It is alleged that the woman is the primary suspect in the murders of her husband, son and two daughters, who all died under mysterious circumstances in 2005, 2015, 2016 and 2023, respectively.
Police act on tip-off
National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said the police have for the past two months, been following up on the case following a tip-off from Setshwantsho’s relatives.
“A team of detectives has been working on this case following a tip-off from relatives of this suspect and through analysis and collection of evidence including the exhumation of a body,” said Mathe.
“The team was able to link its latest suspect to the team’s first focus of the case.”
Mathe said the tip-off surfaced after the suspect allegedly killed a female relative, whose death was initially ruled as due to natural causes.
This was regardless of the mysterious circumstances that she died under.
“Investigations have revealed that the suspect fraudulently took out insurance on behalf of her relative prior to her murder,” Mathe said.
“The suspect has, according to investigations, claimed large amounts of money throughout her activities.”
Mathe added that police are investigating the deaths of Setshwantsho’s son, who died in July 2023, her husband who died in 2016, and her two daughters who died in 2015 and 2005.
She urged insurance companies and families to be extra vigilant and alert to such criminal activities.
Cop-turned-serial killer
In June, a documentary about convicted cop-turned-serial killer Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu aired on Showmax.
Rosemary’s Hitlist tells the story of Ndlovu, who in 2021 was sentenced to six concurrent life terms for the murders of family members so she could claim insurance.
The documentary details how on October 12 2015 Ndlovu’s live-in lover, Yingwani Maurice Mabasa, the father of her only living child at the time, went missing.
Three days later, Mabasa’s body was found in Olifantsfontein with 76 stab wounds.
Mabasa had 16 policies in his name amounting to more than R400,000, and Ndlovu was the sole beneficiary in all of them.
She also ordered hits on five of her family members – her sister, two nephews, a niece, and a cousin. Together, their insurance payout was worth more than R1.4-million.
Ndlovu received a further 30 years imprisonment, of which 10 years was for fraud, incitement to commit murder, and attempted murder of her mother, Maria Mushwana, her sister Joyce, and Joyce’s five children.
