For six months, three suburbs in central Joburg contended with a spree of vicious housebreakings, resulting in four deaths, two rapes and numerous hospitalised and traumatised residents.
Three years later, the State’s case against Mkhululi Chonco, the man allegedly responsible for the 40 violent crimes looks set to wrap up. Central to the State’s argument was Chonco’s aggressive, cruel and erratic nature – but also his carelessness in covering his tracks.
So brazen was Chonco that less than 24 hours after allegedly raping one of his victims, he decided to call her and ask her to be his girlfriend – while she was giving a statement to police about the traumatic incident. And, according to the State, as he continued to get away with his crimes, Chonco’s recklessness became even more pronounced – more willing to fire his 9mm pistol indiscriminately when he wasn’t aiming at his victims, keeping trophies of his crimes at his home in Fairview and a growing murder count.
If he is found guilty by the High Court in Joburg of the hundreds of charges against him, the State will have revealed a ruthless serial offender who murdered spouses and pets, raped two young women and tried to kill almost a dozen other people.
And according to sources close to the investigation, the 25 case dockets used to support the marathon criminal trial probably represent a fraction of the crimes he is believed to have committed.
THE CRIMES (AS ALLEGED BY THE STATE)
The first documented incidents occurred in the early hours of December 7, 2013, when Chonco and an unknown accomplice broke into four homes on the same street within two hours.
Celiwe Khumalo and John Makunga woke up around 3am in their Belgravia home with Chonco aiming his gun at Makunga’s head. Without provocation, Chonco fired several shots before he and an accomplice took the couple’s phones and cash before fleeing the room. Despite being shot at, Makunga managed to escape without fatal injuries.
Directly after the first robbery, Chonco and his unknown accomplice ran into another home, kicking down the door. Husband and wife, Bongani Vilakazi and Ntombizonke Zwezwe, and their young daughter, were robbed of their cellphones and two pairs of sport shoes.
At around this time, the armed men forced their way into the home of Jackson Madlala and his brother, Musawenkosi Ngwenya. When Ngwenya told the attackers that he didn’t have a cellphone, Chonco shot him in front of his brother, stealing Madlala’s cellphone as he and the accomplice fled. Ngwenya died shortly after.
The pair forced their way into another home on the same street – this time taking the time to knock on the door of Nonhlanhla Magazi. One of the two men was screaming at her that if she did not open her door, she would be shot, and after complying, was robbed of her cellphone at gunpoint.
It is believed the pair were firing indiscriminately throughout the spree, with one bullet hitting Ayanda Mshweshwe in the abdomen while he slept in his nearby home. Sphelele Mngoma and his brother were unlucky enough to encounter the pair in a nearby street as they escaped from the area. Without any provocation, Chonco started shooting at the brothers, wounding them – though not fatally.
In January 2014, Chonco targeted two homes on separate nights – one in Belgravia and the other in Malvern. On those two incidents, it’s believed he acted alone, but was caught on both occasions firing into the air as he made his escape with cellphones and cash.
Throughout February that year, he targeted multiple homes in the Jeppe cluster, focusing mostly on Belgravia and Jeppestown.
While the multiple incidents saw families and couples robbed at gunpoint, it was only on February 24 when he returned to Malvern and became trigger-happy again.
Sally Mlambo caught Chonco in her kitchen and when she didn’t bring her cellphone and cash to him fast enough, he shot at her, though she escaped injury. He then forced his way into the couple’s room stealing their money, bank cards and cellphones.
On February 25, a young woman living in Jeppestown awoke in the early hours to find Chonco and an accomplice standing in her room. Threatening to shoot her if she did not hand over her money, after she did, the pair raped her before fleeing the scene.
It was on March 2 that Chonco would take another life, when he broke into the home of Sizen Dube and her husband, Stanley Mpofu. They were awoken by the sounds of Chonco trying to kick in their door, but it was too late, as he managed to enter their bedroom, gun in hand. But after demanding the couple’s valuables, when Mpofu tried to lift his head from his pillow to comply, he was shot dead.
This was the beginning of another series of housebreakings that night, where Chonco robbed another couple at gunpoint on the same street before moving on to a third home. While Aaron Dube woke up to find Chonco pointing a gun at him, he was able to push Chonco out of his room and dodged the bullets fired towards him. Chonco then fled the scene.
After several other robberies where victims escaped with minimal injuries, it was at the beginning of April when he took another life. Having broken into the home of Hasina Mafakuzi and her husband, Mafakuzi awoke and noticed Chonco in their room. When she began screaming, Chonco shot her husband, killing him instantly.
On April 30, he broke into a home in Troyeville.
A young woman staying there awoke to the sound of a gun cocking. After taking her cellphone and cash, Chonco proceeded to rape his target, leaving her to go and rob her male roommate. Proceeding to yet another room on the property, he then shot another resident, who later died in hospital.
It was after a further two robberies in May that Chonco was finally caught.
THE ARREST
It appeared that Chonco had been on the way to or from a robbery when he was apprehended at 2.30am on May 3, 2014 on a road in Jeppestown.
Noting a suspicious man in dark clothes and holding a Nike tote bag, two Jeppe police officers searched him, and found a loaded firearm, eight bullets, screwdrivers, three cellphones and a balaclava.
Despite the suspicious items, Chonco told officers he had been on his way to work.
But it was when Chonco was taken to his home in Fairview by officers that the State managed to find a plethora of evidence that would assist in their case against him. They found ID books of his alleged victims, engraved watches, wallets, about 10 cellphones, and even a CV and technical diploma of one of his targets.
Thereafter, he willingly took police to two areas for a pointing out of eight separate crime scenes.
However, throughout his trial, Chonco insisted he had been coerced into this. This resulted in a lengthy trial within a trial, where he was unable to explain why he hadn’t complained of an alleged assault by the police until halfway through his criminal trial.
After two-and-a-half days of cross-examination, Chonco and his lawyer, Advocate Mlungisi Buthelezi, had failed to prove the alleged assaults by police. Judge Patience Mngqibisa-Thusi provisionally ruled that Chonco had conducted the pointing out of the crime scenes freely and voluntarily.
THE FINAL STATE WITNESS
Last week, State prosecutor, Advocate Maro Papachristoforou called her 91st witness, top forensic criminologist, Captain Elmarie Myburgh to analyse Chonco’s behaviour.
Myburgh concluded that after examining the more than 40 incidents, each of them had to have been perpretrated by one serial offender.
The expert explained how Chonco’s persistent use of violence, either direct or threats, was an indication of his violent, “dangerous” nature. According to Myburgh, the obvious and reckless displays of violence were uncommon, and such behaviour was a strong linkage factor in determining the incidents had been committed by the same person.
She said his tendency to take the victims’ house keys was an intimidation tactic that led many of the victims to be anxious that he would return. Myburgh described this as “prolonging of the trauma for the victims”. Before leaving their homes, he would often lock the complainants inside, to show he was still in control.
Targeting the same areas was also a sign of a serial offender, according to Myburgh, with Chonco allegedly targeting small clusters of homes, with the furthest distance between these clusters being 3.5km.
“It appears the offender knew the area well, which is further emphasised by the fact that most of the houses targeted are adjacent to open yards, open veld or a railway line, which made escaping the premises unnoticed easier,” she said.
During cross-examination, Buthelezi argued that police who testified had believed Chonco was part of a home-invasion syndicate, and that it was entirely possible that these crimes could have been committed by other members of the gang.
However, Myburgh said that there had been too many “signatures” left by Chonco, and it was unlikely that anyone besides Chonco could have been responsible. “The discrepancies between the crimes are because he is human. Behaviour can change slightly depending on the danger of the situation.”
THE DEFENCE’S CASE
Since he pleaded not guilty to the 128 charges he faces, Chonco has been adamant he could not have committed any of the crimes between December and the end of February 2014, as he was visiting KwaZulu-Natal during those months. However, this did not explain how his DNA had been found linked to two of the crime scenes or how ballistic evidence had linked bullets fired in numerous crimes to the 9mm pistol found on him during his arrest.
@ShainGermaner