A High Court sitting in Mpumalanga, South Africa, on Thursday, April 4, sentenced a 30-year-old lady, Zanele Mkhonto, to 20 years imprisonment for the br¥tal m¥rder of her boyfriend.
The deceased, a 47-year-old police officer named Sergeant Mandlenkosi Happy Thwala, was stationed at KaBokweni police station at the time of his demise.
Mkhonto, who pleaded guilty to the hideous crime in November 2023, was living with the deceased before she att@cked him on the date day following a dispute.
According to Mpumalanga National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Monica Nyuswa, “She told the court that she was in a romantic relationship with the deceased (Thwala) and they were residing together from January to July 2022, at Gedlembane, in Pienaar. After realising that their relationship was volatile she left to her parental home.
After the altercation, the police sergeant fell asleep and that is when Mkhonto took his service pistol and fatally sh%t him several times while he was in bed.
She then left the scene, taking the deceased’s firearm and vehicle. On her way to her homestead in Masoyi, she came across a road block in Zwelisha, near KaBokweni, and she threw away the deceased’s firearm which was found by members of the public the following morning.”
IOL reports that upon arrival at her home, Mkhonto then informed her friend about the crime she had committed, and the police were alerted. She was subsequently arrested and the State successfully opposed her release on bail.
During trial, in aggravation of sentence, State advocate Zwelethu Mata told the court that Mkhonto did not show “any remorse” for her actions.
Instead, the court heard that Mkhonto attempted to trivialise her actions by using untested narratives in her pre-sentencing reports.
In the end, the acting judge sentenced Mkhonto to 20 years direct imprisonment, and the convicted m¥rderer was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
