A Western Cape High Court judge has sentenced a 20-year-old Grabouw man to an effective 25 years in prison after he broke into the home of his neighbour last year and, armed with a hammer and knife, attacked her sisters while they slept.
Eight-year-old Aphelele Memani, who was stabbed 26 times, was declared dead on the scene while her 12-year-old sister, Portia, survived.
Judge Patricia Goliath said while a minimum sentence of 15 years was prescribed for such a murder, she believed that a heavier sentence was necessary.
The man, Abongile Fempulana, lived in the same street as the girls.
Their older sister, 28-year-old Xolelwa Memani, took care of them while their parents worked on a farm in Citrusdal. About 9pm on the evening of September 16, she left to visit a neighbour while the girls slept.
Fempulana was also at the neighbour’s house when she arrived, and the two chatted. He left before her and, when she returned home, she found her sisters covered in blood.
The next morning, Fempulana was arrested, and he was later charged with housebreaking, murder and attempted murder.
On May 9, Judge Goliath convicted him of the charges, and the case returned to court yesterday for sentencing.
In passing sentence, the judge said all the crimes Fempulana had been convicted of were serious.
“An innocent and defenceless young girl was brutally attacked while sleeping,” she said, adding that a post-mortem report before the court showed that Aphelele had 26 stab and blunt trauma injuries.
“Her sister Portia is fortunate to be alive,” Judge Goliath added.
She told Fempulana that the court was still in the dark about what motivated him to commit the offences because he failed to take the court into his confidence and simply said he didn’t know why he did it.
In addition, while he said he was sorry about what he had done, he did not show any genuine remorse.
The judge noted that newspapers reported on incidents of violence towards children daily. “In a case of this nature, the interests of the community cannot be ignored… The South African community is clearly concerned and angry about the violence towards young children,” she said.
She added that Fempulana was a family friend who misused that position of trust by killing a child who could have been a productive member of society.
Fempulana was sentenced to 20 years for the murder, 10 years for the attempted murder and one year for housebreaking.
Five years of the attempted murder sentence as well as the one year for housebreaking were ordered to run concurrently with the sentence for the murder.
Cape Argus