One of the most infamous murders in South Africa takes place

19 year old Marlene Lehnberg hired Marthinus Choegoe to assist in the brutal murder of 48-year-old Susanna Magdalena van der Linde, wife to Christiaan van der Linde with whom Lehnberg previously had an affair. [i]  Lehnberg and Choegoe first assaulted Mrs van der Linde with a pistol before stabbing her several times. [ii] Marlene Lehnberg and Marthinus Choegoe were convicted of murder in the Cape High Court in 1975, with their sentences later being reduced to 20 and 15 years respectively. Lehnberg received parole in 1986. [iii] The case generated enormous local and national media interest at the time, as it was a rare occurrence at the time to see cross-racial criminal teamwork (Lehnberg was White while Choegoe was Coloured). Endnotes [i] Cameron-Dow, J. 2007. A Newspaper History of South Africa. Wynberg: Don Nelson Publishers, p. 106. ↵ [ii] The “Scissors murder”: Marlene Lehnberg: 1974. 2009. [Online]. Available: http://www.africacrime-mystery.co.za/books/fsac/chp18.htm ↵ [iii] Marlene Lehnberg in hof op klag van meubeldiefstal” Volksblad, 15 May 1999, p. 2. ↵