Pietermaritzburg - A man who killed an 84-year-old widow with an axe after breaking through the wall of her home was jailed for 30 years by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Wednesday.
Lindokuhle Langa, 25, who came from a poverty-stricken family in Muden in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the murder of Efemima Dumakude, a pensioner who also ran a tuckshop.
Langa, who had only rudimentary education, admitted breaking into her home through a hole he had made in one of its walls, and then struck her with an axe which he had brought along one night in July. He took money and other items.
Judge Thoba Poyo-Dlwati said his family's poverty was not an excuse for attacking and robbing her.
She sentenced Langa to 25 years for the murder, and 15 years for housebreaking with intent and aggravated robbery. She suspended 10 of the 15 years, so Langa's sentence would be 25 plus five years.
Sapa