The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein has overturned Thandi Maqubela’s guilty conviction for the murder of her husband, acting judge Patrick Maqubela.

“I am glad for her and especially for her children,” one of her lawyers, Stephen Lamprecht, told News24 about the court’s decision to uphold her appeal.

Maqubela, 62, was found guilty by the Western Cape High in November 2014 of killing her husband, falsifying his signature on his will nine months after his death and committing fraud by possibly benefitting from his will.

The acting judge was found dead in a Bantry Bay apartment in June 2009.

She was sentenced by Judge John Murphy to 18 years imprisonment in 2015 for murder, forgery and fraud.

In her appeal, Maqubela argued that prosecutors did not prove that her husband did not die of natural causes.

A defence witness during her trial, University of Pretoria forensic medicine professor Gert Saayman, said the acting judge may have died of natural causes and possibly due to his enlarged heart.

When Judge Murphy announced in November 2013 that he had found Thandi Maqubela guilty of the murder of her husband, she said nothing, as reported by Daily Maverick. DM

Photo: Thandi Maqubela is seen outside the Western Cape High Court during her trial. Photo: SAPA