A 50-year-old man who killed his girlfriend, the mother of his child, in 2019 and fled the country has been sentenced to 16 years imprisonment by the Durban High Court on Tuesday after he was arrested at the Kosi Bay border post from Mozambique last year.

Jabulani Mdlalose pleaded guilty to killing Ziningi Mkhize from Dassenhoek on April 4, 2019. In his plea read by his counsel from Legal Aid, advocate Phumelele Daniso, Mdlalose told the court that Mkhize was cheating on him, and it was not the first time. However, he stayed because he loved her.

He said on the fateful day he had come back from his paternal family in Ngwavuma to attend a funeral. He said when he got to their home with Mkhize, he knocked on the door several times, but no one answered. He said both the door and burglar were locked. Mdlalose claimed he could hear voices inside the house.

“I decided to go to my car, which was parked outside. As I was on my way there, the burglar opened, and when I turned, an unknown male person was coming out of the house, running behind the house,” he said. 

Mdlalose said he went back to the house to inquire with Mkhize, with whom he had a son. He said when he asked her, Mkhize told him to leave her alone and not question her. 

He said this led to a heated argument, and he slapped Mkhize. 

“I grabbed her on her neck, and she hit her head against the wall. She fell down and then got up, becoming aggressive. She approached me in a violent and threatening manner,” he explained. 

He said he overpowered Mkhize, tied her hands behind her back, and tied her legs with a clothing item. 

“She continued shouting and swearing at me. I put a black refuse plastic bag over her head and secured it,” he added. 

He said he left her in the house and went to sit in his car to gather his thoughts. As he came back, he realised that Mkhize was not moving; she was dead. Additionally, Mdlalose said he covered Mkhize with a blanket. After that, he called her sister and told her that he had killed Mkhize. 

Mdlalose said he did not plan to kill Mkhize, and he has no legal defense on his murder charge. Daniso said the sentence that they had agreed on with the State was 16 years imprisonment.

Acting Judge Nomfundo Sipunzi sentenced Mdlalose to 16 years imprisonment and declared him unfit to possess a firearm. 

However, the Mkhize family said they were not happy with the sentence as they feel that Mdlalose killed two people. The family said Mkhize was pregnant and she was around seven or eight months pregnant. The family further said Mdlalose forced Mkhize to drink hot water while burning her. They also said that he made her drink some traditional muthi, saying that it would help kill the baby that is not his. 

“It had been a while since they had broken up, and Mdlalose was living somewhere else with his new girlfriend. Our sister was residing in her house,” the family said.

The elder sister of Mkhize, Hlengiwe Mkhize, said what Mdlalose said on his plea was not the truth because he even took their child elsewhere. “He planned to brutally kill her,” she said. 

Hlengiwe said the child is now 15 years old and was traumatised by what happened. 

“The child did say that he will never forgive him (Mdlalose). But we are glad that he has been sentenced,” Hlengiwe added.

nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za

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