Noela, a woman from Melbourne, Australia, says she watched the last mourners leave her own funeral after her husband hired men to have her killed.
According to reports from the Washington Post and CBC, Noela traveled to Burundi in early 2015 with her husband, Balenga, to attend a family funeral. She says that while she was there, a gunman forced her into a car and took her to a building, where the men told her that her husband had paid them, reportedly about 7,000 Australian dollars, to kill her. The men reportedly decided not to go through with it. They kept the money, told Balenga the job was done, and let her go.
Balenga then told friends and family back home that his wife had died in an accident, and a funeral was held in Melbourne. Noela, meanwhile, made it back to Australia with help from embassy staff and went to police. On the night of February 22, 2015, she confronted him outside the family home after the service. Her words to him were, “Surprise! I’m still alive!”
Court records show how it ended. Balenga first denied the accusations to police, then pleaded guilty to one count of incitement to murder. The judge described the crime as premeditated and driven by unfounded jealousy. He was sentenced in December 2015 to nine years in prison, with parole possible after six.
It is a story that sounds like a movie plot, but it is a real case from the Australian courts.
Source: Washington Post, CBC
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