DOUBLE LIFE SENTENCE FOR RAPE AND MURDER

29 APRIL 2025

DOUBLE LIFE SENTENCE FOR RAPE AND MURDER

The Nquthu Regional Court has sentenced a 24-year-old man to two terms of life imprisonment for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in October 2022 in the Mxangala area. The accused and the complainant were known to each other. On 29 October 2022, the complainant, her cousin, her cousin’s boyfriend, and the accused were all together. Since the cousin and her boyfriend were going to a night vigil, they asked the accused to leave so that the complainant could lock the door of the rondavel and go to bed. However, the accused told them that the complainant would be safe, and further that he was still proposing love to the complainant. The cousin reprimanded him, saying that he should not do that as the complainant was still a child.

The cousin and her boyfriend then left and in the early hours of the next morning, the complainant was found deceased outside the rondavel. The cousin then informed her father and the Induna of the area. The accused was arrested thereafter. A preliminary investigation revealed that the complainant had also been raped.

During the trial, Prosecutor Mphakamiseni Joel Justice Mdlalose led the evidence of the grandmother and cousin of the deceased, as well as the findings of the postmortem. Mdlalose also told the court that the accused had deprived the complainant’s family by taking away her life, as the family had hopes of her getting a good job and uplifting them.

The accused was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment each for the murder and the rape. Further, he was declared unfit to possess a firearm and the court ordered that his name be added into the National Register for Sex Offenders.

The NPA hopes that sentences of this nature serve as a deterrent to like-minded individuals.

Issued by:

Natasha Ramkisson-Kara
NPA Regional Spokesperson
KZN Division
0716700229