The Madadeni Regional Court has sentenced a 37-year-old man to life imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to the murder of his partner in October 2023 in the Osizweni area, Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal.
The accused shared two children with the 34-year-old deceased mother, said Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, regional spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
“On the day of the incident, the deceased had gone to visit her partner, and she took the children with her. In his plea, the accused said that the deceased asked him for money to pay off a loan shark. He said that they got into an argument, and she stabbed him once in the stomach. He said he dispossessed her of the knife, and she insulted him. He then noticed a bush knife on the veranda floor and lost control of his emotions. He used the blade and the bush knife to stab and hack her multiple times. He did this in the presence of one of their children,” said Ms Ramkisson-Kara.
The deceased’s screams were heard by neighbours who rushed to the scene to find the accused hacking the deceased. They were not able to intervene, as the accused had locked the steel gate which enclosed the veranda where he was attacking her. Some neighbours captured the attack on their cellphones, said Ms Ramkisson-Kara. The accused then ran into the house and locked himself in. The neighbours broke the padlock and gained access to the veranda and subsequently the house. The accused was found with a minor stab wound.
In aggravation of sentence, prosecutor Dan Motha led the testimonies of the deceased’s mother who said that both the couple’s minor children were present on the day of the incident, with the older child witnessing the hacking of his mother. The incident has left the child traumatised, and the child is not coping well, the grandmother said. The grandmother also said that she is a pensioner who is struggling financially and now she must care for both her grandchildren.
The accused was sentenced to life imprisonment, and he was declared unfit to possess a firearm, said Ms Ramkisson-Kara. She added that the NPA welcomes this successful prosecution.
