In March, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg found Shoba guilty of plotting to have Pule, his estranged girlfriend, murdered after she confirmed she was pregnant.

Pule was found hanging from a tree in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, in June 2020.

Muzikayise Malephane confessed to killing her. Malephane, who was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in jail for his part in the murder, testified against Shoba.

Malephane, posing as a cab driver, shot Pule before driving to Roodepoort, where he hanged her.

Delivering his sentence on Friday, Acting Judge Stuart Wilson said there were no compelling reasons for the court not to impose the prescribed penalty of life in prison for Shoba's crime.

Shoba's lawyer had appealed to the court to be lenient when he presented his arguments in mitigation of sentence on Thursday.

As Shoba walked down to the holding cells after the sentence was delivered, people seated in the public gallery hurled insults at him in anger.

The former analyst, who worked at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange at the time of Pule's murder, was convicted in March.

Pule's body was identified after one of the people who found her, tweeted about the discovery.

News24