Cape Town - A Zimbabwean national, who robbed and murdered his 53-year-old Pringle Bay employer to fulfil his dreams of becoming a Cape Town rapper with an album, has been sentenced to 37 years imprisonment.
Martin Ncube, 22, last month pleaded guilty to killing Farah Thompson in her Hangklip Road home by smashing her head with a blunt object and strangling and suffocating her by covering her mouth and nose with 10 scarves.
He further robbed her of her bank cards, laptop, tablet and BMW X3 vehicle with the car’s registration papers.
The incident occurred on August 13 last year.
Western Cape High Court Judge Monde Samela handed down the sentencing yesterday.
“You didn’t appreciate the good gesture the deceased showed you, taking you in as family, not knowing she was harbouring an aggressive evil person.
“You tied her with 10 scarves around her face and neck and a wrapped a transparent packaging tape around her body. She surely had a painful death,” said judge Samela.
Judge Samela said Thompson wasn’t armed and the cause of death was a result of a combination of her head injuries, strangulation and or smothering.
“The court has to take into consideration the seriousness of the crime, interest of society and victim as well as the accused’s personal circumstances.
“The accused’s personal circumstances are outweighed by the aggravating circumstances,” said Judge Samela.
Thompson’s husband, Roger Thompson, said he was disappointed with the sentence. He said the family had hoped Ncube would get life imprisonment.
In his plea explanation, Ncube said on the day of the murder he had only planned to rob Thompson.
He dragged her to the toilet and took out sellotape from his work backpack which had his tools. He brought a chain and chair and tied her to the chair before he proceeded to rob her.
“The reason why I decided to rob the deceased is because I had dreams of becoming a rap artist in Cape Town and have my own album,” he concluded.