DURBAN - THE Inkatha Freedom Party’s Women’s Brigade president princess Phumzile Buthelezi has called for a harsher sentence for the eThekwini Metro police officer who killed his girlfriend.
Metro police officer Ndumiso Khumalo, 30, was found guilty of murdering Zinhle Muthwa, 29, by the Durban High Court on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty.
The victim was his girlfriend at the time of her death.
Khumalo’s sentencing proceedings were expected to begin on Thursday.
Buthelezi and the IFP Women’s Brigade members had been attending the case since Khumalo was arrested and started appearing at Umbumbulu Magistrate’s Court earlier this year.
“The only appropriate sentence for Khumalo will be a life sentence. We don’t think he deserves to live with society anymore after what he has done. As a police officer he was trusted by the deceased and other women in society that they would run to him for protection if attacked but he was the one who killed her,” said Buthelezi.
She said from evidence heard in court, Khumalo had planned the killing way before he executed it.
“After killing her Khumalo went to wash the car to remove any evidence and brought it back. She said she would attend both today’s and Friday proceedings because she wanted to see the case to the end. We are concerned about the high rate of gender-based violence but we never thought that law-enforcement agencies would be the ones who kill women instead of protecting them. The court must set an example and give a harsher sentence that will send a strong message to other perpetrators out there,” said the IFP leader.
The murder victim and Khumalo were staying together in Pinetown but her decomposed body was found dumped at Ndaya reserve near Umbumbulu on New Year’s Day after she was reported missing.
People who last saw her alive had told police a white car was seen picking her up in New Germany.
National Prosecuting Authority provincial spokesperson Natasha Kara confirmed Khumalo was found guilty on Tuesday and sentencing would commence on Thursday.
Daily News