Johannesburg - “Why did you kill my mom?” This was a question a 13-year-old girl posed in a letter to Nyiko Ubisi on Friday, four years after the man gunned down her mother and her mother’s friend in Tembisa.
“When I heard that my mom died it felt like my heartbeat stopped. We need our moms through stages that our granny can’t pass with us and I need my mom for girl talks. My granny is old; she tries her best [but] I’m turning 13, I’m becoming a teen. Who am I going to share and experience those stages with? Why did you kill my mom?” asked the girl in a letter read by Johannesburg High Court Acting Judge Harold Knopp.
But Ubisi was not moved. Instead, as relatives of his rape victim and the two women he killed wept as Judge Knopp imposed a 72-year sentence, the Tembisa man smiled, posed for pictures and joked with his family members.
Ubisi “showed no remorse [and] he refuses to take responsibility for his actions. He went to the home of Nomonde Selaledi with a loaded firearm. With severe carelessness, [he] shot Nomonde several times, causing her death. He [also] brutally and cold-bloodedly shot and killed Nomusa Selumo, who at the time happened to be visiting her friend [Selaledi],” said Judge Knopp.
He said both murders were premeditated, with Ubisi killing Selaledi after failing to persuade her to drop rape charges she had laid against him.
“The court considers [Ubisi] a danger to society in general. These are extremely serious offences, especially the murders and the rape. Punishment should fit the crime,” said Judge Knopp.
He slapped Ubisi with two life terms for the 2008 murders and an additional 10 years for the rape of an 18-year-old Tembisa woman who had gone partying with Ubisi in December, 2004. Ten more years were imposed for the two charges of possessing a firearm unlawfully and two years for possessing ammunition unlawfully.
Ubisi not only left the Tembisa woman suffering bouts of anxiety, insomnia and depression, but he also subjected Selaledi’s daughter to a traumatic experience which still haunts her.
The girl, who was called as a witness during the trial, watched as Ubisi pumped bullets into her mother and Selumo’s bodies.
“The accused executed the murders in the presence of [the girl]. One cannot imagine the traumatic experience of witnessing her mother’s death.
“[The girl] has been left an orphan. The deceased in count two [Selumo] also had a young child who has been left an orphan,” he said.
Selumo’s mother, Jabulile, said she was “relieved that justice has prevailed”.
“[Ubisi] went around telling people that he killed prostitutes… our daughters. He was a feared thug in Tembisa, but his family kept protecting him, paying police to destroy dockets. To this day, they defend him. They just said now that only God knows.”
The Star