Durban — The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has welcomed the successful prosecution of two men who killed women in separate incidents in 2023 and 2022 respectively.
Concerning the first incident, KwaZulu-Natal NPA spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said the Madadeni Regional Court 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.
She said the accused had two children with the 34-year-old murder victim.
Ramkisson-Kara said on the day of the incident, the victim had gone to visit the accused, and she took the children with her.
In his plea, the accused said the victim 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.
The victim’s screams were heard by neighbours who rushed to the scene to find the accused hacking the victim. They were unable 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. 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.
Ramkisson-Kara said that in aggravation of sentence, prosecutor Dan Motha led the testimonies of the victim’s mother who said that both the couple’s minor children were present on the day of the incident, with the older one witnessing the hacking of his mother. The incident has traumatised the child and the child is not coping well. The woman also said she is a pensioner struggling financially as she must now care for both the children.
“The accused was sentenced to life imprisonment, and he was declared unfit to possess a firearm,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
In the second prosecution, Ramkisson-Kara said the Ntuzuma Regional Court sentenced Mxolisi Mvula, 30, to life imprisonment for the murder of his partner in December 2022 in the Lindelani area of Ntuzuma.
Mvula was in a domestic relationship with the victim and on the day of the incident they argued in the presence of a mutual friend. He then asked the victim to go outside with him where he assaulted her several times by bashing her head into a brick wall. When she fell to the ground, he continued to assault her until she lost consciousness and subsequently died. Their friend witnessed the incident, but Mvula threatened to assault her too, should she intervene. Mvula then fled the scene and was later arrested in the Bergville area.
Ramkisson-Kara said in court, prosecutor Kaystree Ramsamujh handed in a Victim Impact Statement compiled by the victim’s mother and facilitated by court preparation officer Princess Mlangeni.
In her statement, the woman said: “The passing of my daughter was horrific, it is something I will never forget. It broke me and no one will ever take her place in my heart. The accused and the deceased never had a healthy relationship. They were always fighting.”
Ramkisson-Kara said: “Mvula was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, and by operation of the law, he was automatically declared unfit to possess a firearm.”
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