Man sentenced to 15 years for killing his girlfriend

22 JANUARY 2024

MAN SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS FOR KILLING HIS GIRLFRIEND 

The Pretoria High Court sitting in Benoni sentenced Lundokuhle Innocent Radebe (26), from Duduza to 15 years direct imprisonment for murder and 5 years imprisonment for defeating the administration of justice. The court ordered that the sentences should run concurrently and that he be declared unfit to possess a firearm. The deceased in the matter, Thandeka Precius Tshabalala (20), was in a relationship with Radebe.  In the early hours of the morning on 22 November 2021, while the two were at Radebe’s place of residence in Duduza, Radebe strangled Thandeka to death. Thereafter, he called the police, and when they arrived, he told them that the deceased had committed suicide, and he found her body tied with a cord around her neck. After the body of the deceased was examined by the pathologist it was discovered that the deceased had been strangled.  Radebe was then arrested on 01 December 2021, at his place of residence.

Through his legal representative, Radebe asked the court to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence and impose a 10-year sentence, because he had no previous convictions and had the responsibility of looking after his 16-year-old sibling. However, in aggravation, state prosecutor Advocate Vusumzi Tshabalala told the court that there was a significant amount of violence used when committing this offence, which led to broken bones on the deceased neck. In addition, Tshabalala told the court that this case was a typical case of femicide which robbed the deceased of her life since she was only 20 years old when she was killed.  As such, the killing of the deceased has caused trauma to her mother and siblings.   Therefore, Tshabalala asked the court not to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years of direct imprisonment.

When handing down the sentence Judge Van Veenendaal said that Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a big pandemic in South Africa and that men should learn to respect women. Moreover, Radebe did not show any remorse and therefore she found that there were no substantial or compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence. 

Issued by:
Lumka Mahanjana:
NPA Regional Spokesperson
Gauteng Division: Pretoria
073 002 0000 
lmahanjana@npa.gov.za