Durban - A Cato Ridge high school teacher who killed his former girlfriend and her 9-year-old son and set their bodies alight because he believed she had infected him with HIV has been convicted of murder.
The victims – Bonakele Sibiya, a teacher at Jabulani Primary School in Bergville, and her son, Mfanafuthi – were going to Durban for a holiday in March and were given a lift by Ndumiso Khwela, 29, to the Inchanga taxi rank.
Khwela, 29, claimed that was the last he saw of them.
The mother and son were strangled and their charred remains were found in bush near Inchanga on March 28.
Khwela pleaded not guilty, saying he had arranged to meet Sibiya in Bergville on the day of the murders.
But in the Pietermaritzburg High Court yesterday, Judge Anton van Zyl found him guilty of the murders.
Khwela was also convicted of the theft of Sibiya’s laptop, cellphone and bank cards, some of which he gave to his current girlfriend after the murders.
The items were subsequently found in her possession.
He sold Sibiya’s phone to his best friend. Both testified that they had received the items from Khwela days after the murders.
Khwela insisted that both his girlfriend and friend were lying, but could not give the court a possible explanation as to why they would falsely implicate him.
In convicting Khwela, Judge Van Zyl said he was not an impressive witness and was unable to explain his way out of the crimes.
Khwela was to be sentenced on Friday.
Daily News