WOMAN SENTENCED FOR THE MURDER OF HER BOYFRIEND AND HER AUNT

23 June 2025

WOMAN SENTENCED FOR THE MURDER OF HER BOYFRIEND AND HER AUNT

The High Court of South Africa, Eastern Cape Division, Mthatha, sentenced Noncedo Mqokro (39) to an effective 15-year imprisonment term after convicting her on two counts of murder and housebreaking with intent to commit an offence. The court sentenced her to 15 years for each of the murders of her boyfriend, who is the father of her child, as well as her distant aunt, whom she found sleeping with her boyfriend. She was sentenced to a further eight years' imprisonment for housebreaking. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

In her plea of guilty explanation, Mqokro admitted that on 19 May 2024, she had been attending a traditional ceremony at her home village of Nondindwa in the Mcothama area of the district of Centane. She had been consuming liquor until she went home moderately drunk. From her home, she decided to visit her boyfriend in the evening at his home in the neighbouring village of Khabakazi. It was not the first time she had visited her boyfriend’s place without notifying him, she stated. When she arrived at the boyfriend’s home, he refused to open the door for her to enter.

When she peeped through the window, she saw the boyfriend having sexual intercourse with a woman she identified as her distant aunt, who shared the same clan’s name as her mother. In a fit of rage, he pushed the door open, went straight to a bucket that the boyfriend used to hide his dagger knife and stabbed two. Mqokro stated in her statement that she did not remember how many times she stabbed the two, but said she left them still alive after they apologised. She went to the boyfriend’s mother and confessed to the stabbing, but was only told the following day that the deceased had succumbed to their wounds. She handed herself over to the police at the scene of the crime.

Sentencing Mqokro, the court took into consideration the pre-sentence report, which revealed that she had been under the prescribed medical treatment for epilepsy and was a recipient of a social grant for her medical condition. Furthermore, she had been divorced from an abusive husband and had numerous healed wounds that were perpetrated by the deceased boyfriend because of her insecurity issues. Even though State Advocate Loyiso Methuso emphasised that the crimes resulted in a loss of lives and guardians for the children of the deceased, he admitted that Mqokro had shown remorse and she, herself, needs professional intervention, as her youngest daughter also blames her for the death of her father.

Welcoming the sentence, Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions Barry Madolo stated that the sentence should caution other people in abusive relationships to seek interventions within legal limits because once they commit a crime, they will serve time.

Issued by:

Luxolo Tyali
NPA Regional Spokesperson
Eastern Cape Division
Tel: 047 501 2630
Cell: 073 555 9292
Email: ltyali@npa.gov.za