South Africa: Cops Cuff Rosemary After Daring Undercover 'Sting'

Part 4 of 9

Undercover cops pretended to be hitmen to trap Sergeant Rosemary Ndlovu - after she hired assassins to kill her sister's family for insurance cash.

This is one of 13 charges she faces of either killing or trying to kill family members for insurance.

And this trap is what stopped her alleged killing spree.

Rosemary said she wanted the assassins to burn the family's house while they slept in it, to make it look like an accident.
One of the real assassins she allegedly hired to kill her sister Joyce's family was shocked that Rosemary ordered them to murder four children and a baby.
It was all too much for the hired killers. So after Rosemary gave them their job instructions, they tipped off the cops.
The police - from the Gauteng anti-corruption and crime intelligence units - then worked with the hired killers to trap Rosemary.
Using a secret device, the cops recorded Rosemary talking about her plans to kill her family members for insurance money.
They are with two of the assassins. The hitmen have arranged to travel with Rosemary to Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga. She wants to show them exactly where the family lives, so they can burn down the right house.
On 7 March 2018 at 3 am, undercover cops met to plan the "sting".
Five police officers meet at a shopping mall in Ekurhuleni to plan the day ahead.
The police mount a secret dashboard camera in the car Rosemary will be travelling in, with her hired assassins. The car will also have one undercover cop, posing as another hitman.

According to evidence filed in court:

The cops dash to the taxi rank. They arrest a shocked Rosemary as she is about to head off.
When the two cars of police following behind arrive in Bushbuckridge, the hitmen - and the undercover policeman with them - have already been with Rosemary to her sister's house.
Rosemary has gone to the taxi rank to travel back to her hospital bed in Johannesburg, to try and keep up her alibi. She has a day pass from the hospital and needs to be back that evening.

Life Carstenhof Hospital:

Rosemary sits in one car, a Honda Civic, with the two hitmen - and one undercover cop. Unknown to her, they are followed - at a distance - by two cars with other police investigators from the Gauteng Provincial Organised Crime Unit.
She has checked into the hospital to give herself an alibi. She plans to go with the hitmen to point out her sister's house, and then get back to hospital again by the time the killings take place.
On the 450km trip to Bushbuckridge, Rosemary begins discussing her plans to kill her sister and her children - all while being secretly recorded.

Life Carstenhof Hospital.

Rosemary wants the kids killed too to make sure there are no witnesses, according to evidence given in court later.
She tells the hitmen that after the pills make Joyce and her family sleepy, they should then break into the house, and stuff socks in her sleeping relatives' mouths.
They stop at a petrol station in Middelburg, where she asks an attendant to fill a two-litre bottle with fuel for the hitmen to use to burn down her sister Joyce's house.
Then the hitmen should set the house on fire, with her sister's children and infant inside.
She says the insurance companies will pay double if there's an "unnatural death".
All on tape, she tells the hitmen that she will give her sister sleeping tablets and ask her to drink them to prevent flu. She will also tell her to give the pills to her children.
She tells them she needs the money "to pay debts".

Rosemary's plan:

At Bushbuckridge:

Read: Part 5