Double murderer Nkuna bought two luxury cars, house while in prison

Murderer Rassie Nkuna built a house and purchased a BMW and a Land Cruiser while in prison with the money he received from a cash-in-transit heist, he allegedly told correctional services investigators.

The revelations are contained in a report by correctional services, which was investigating negligence by its officials in the handling of Nkuna during his incarceration at three different facilities.

Nkuna was granted parole in January 2022 despite being classified as a high-risk offender and an absconder from a previous prison sentence. 

According to a summary of Nkuna's statement contained in the report, he was arrested twice for a cash-in-transit heist between 2016 and 2017.

“He stated that when he was in prison he used the money he got from the heist to build a house in Kanyamazane [Mpumalanga] and bought two cars, a BMW 1 series and a Land Cruiser,” the reported stated.

He claimed to have used the BMW to help a church transport equipment as part of his community service sentence.

After his release on parole in 2022, Nkuna allegedly went on a killing spree which claimed at least six lives and was also allegedly linked to the murder of Hillary Gardee, the daughter of EFF deputy leader Godrich Gardee, in April 2022.

The charges for the Gardee murder were provisionally withdrawn in April 2023 after key state witnesses vanished. He has since confessed to killing his girlfriend Pretty Mazibuko and her sister on May 15 2022 and is serving a life sentence for the two murders.

A police source told Sowetan Nkuna purchased the vehicles on Facebook's marketplace platform.

“He used to send his girlfriend Mazibuko money while he was in prison. It appears he had a cellphone and would make calls to his girlfriend after purchasing the BMW. He called his friend who is a mechanic to go to check the condition of the car from the seller in Vereeniging,” the source said.

It emerged in court that the BMW previously belonged to Lucky Mogashoa, one of the people he allegedly shot dead in March 2022. Mogashoa was shot with his wife Sabeliwe — who was six months pregnant at the time. The couple were shot in front of their two minor children.

According to the police source, the BMW was involved in a crash in 2021 and taken to a mechanic for repairs, and later reported stolen. Nkuna bought the vehicle before the Mogashoas were killed.

During his trial for the murder of the Mogashoas, a state witness told the court Nkuna had called him to go check the condition of the car in Vereeniging.  

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