Pretoria - The North Gauteng High Court has confirmed the 10-year jail sentence imposed on a “faithful” boyfriend who throttled his girlfriend in a fit of rage, believing she infected him with the HIV/Aids virus.
Mbongeni Zacharia Nkosi, 26, murdered his girlfriend during an argument on April 24 last year.
He told the court that at the start of their relationship they went for an HIV test. Both tested negative.
Nkosi said he was faithful to his girlfriend, but heard rumours that she was involved in other relationships. He went for another HIV test and tested positive.
Nkosi said as he did not have sex with anyone else and was convinced that he had contracted the virus from her.
He confronted her and blamed her for his HIV status. She became aggressive and hysterical.
He grabbed her by the neck and strangled her, he said.
He pleaded guilty to murder in the lower court and was sentenced to a 10-year jail term.
That court found that there were substantial and compelling circumstances which justified a lesser sentence than the statutory minimum of 15 years which the court would otherwise be obliged to impose.
Nkosi, however, felt that 10 years in jail was extremely harsh and he turned to the high court to appeal against it.
Judge Neil Tuchten said Nkosi’s girlfriend probably infected him with HIV. “But the law requires a person to exercise self control and not to wreak vengeance by taking the law into one’s own hands,” he said.
The judge pointed out that Nkosi had pleaded guilty and thus showed remorse and he was a first offender.
“He will have the death of the deceased on his conscience for the rest of his life.
“He loved the person he killed,” the judge said. Judge Tuchten agreed with the defence that Nkosi was an excellent candidate to be rehabilitated and that the chances of him repeating this offence were remote.
“Taking into account the crime, the offender and the interests of society, and blending into this mix a measure of mercy, it cannot be said that this sentence is so different from what this court would impose,” the judge said, confirming the sentence would stand.
Pretoria News