DURBAN High Court Judge Jacqueline Henriques on Tuesday sentenced a woman and the hitman hired to kill the woman’s fiancé to life imprisonment.
Doreen Hlangu, 41, and hitman Mnqobi Miya, 23, were convicted of kidnapping, robbing and killing Hlangu’s fiancé, Jabulani Hlongwa.
Henriques sentenced both Hlangu and Miya to life for the murder, 5 years for kidnapping and 15 years for robbery with aggravated circumstances.
The robbery with aggravated circumstances and kidnapping sentences will run concurrently with the life sentence.
She sentenced Miya to a further 8 years for the unlawful possession of a firearm, and 4 years for the unlawful possession of ammunition.
Hlongwa was 58 years old and a manager at Telkom at the time of his death.
During sentencing, Judge Henriques said there were no substantial or compelling circumstances that would make the court deviate from the minimum and maximum prescribed sentences in accordance with the offences.
“In this matter it is clear that (Hlangu) was the instigator, an active participant and mastermind.”
Hlongwa paid lobola for Hlangu in 2016. Soon afterwards they had a baby. However, the baby died, and that is when the couple started having problems. There were many meetings with the families’ elders to try to find a solution to their problem, but Hlangu continued to blame Hlongwa for their infant’s death.
She also demanded that he pay damages of R10 000 for impregnating her, even though he had already paid lobola - damages are usually paid to a woman’s family if a man impregnates her before lobola is paid.
Hlongwa refused to pay damages and this angered Hlangu, and led to the end of her relationship with him.
In June 2017, she allegedly engaged the help of a childhood friend to meet people who would kill Hlongwa for a fee. On August 15, 2017, Miya and two other accomplices arrived at Hlongwa’s home in Inanda, where Hlangu pointed out Hlongwa and they accosted him. They ransacked his home before he was driven to a secluded area outside uMlazi where he was shot dead. His body was found a few days later.
Both Miya and Hlangu appealed their sentences, but Henriques refused their application for leave to appeal.
Daily News