Durban - Angry that his fiancée and the mother of his 4-year-old child was breaking up with him, a 27-year-old uMlazi man took a spear to her house and fatally stabbed her 14 times.
Khayelihle Innocent Mjoka was sentenced on Thursday in the Durban High Court to 15 years imprisonment after he had pleaded guilty to killing his girlfriend of four years, Philile Nonkanyiso Mbongo, 25, on July 2.
In his guilty plea, Mjoka told the court the couple were happy for the duration of their relationship, which began on Christmas Day in 2015, and that they were then blessed with a daughter and moved in together.
“I supported her and the child with the little that I earned working at the taxi rank washing minibus taxis. I also contributed financially to her child from her previous relationship,” he said.
He said that in June Mbongo indicated to him she intended resuming her relationship with the father of her older child. Since then, he said, they had argued a lot and the arguments once became physical.
“After I assaulted her she took our daughter and moved out. She obtained a protection order against me,” he said.
He said the day before the incident, he and his friends drank two cases of beer and a bottle of vodka and smoked rock (crack cocaine) until 4am.
After his friends left he contacted Mbongo, wanting to speak to his daughter, but Mbongo said they were not home and she had moved on with life.
After arguing about their daughter he took a spear and went to where Mbongo was staying. When he noticed love bites on her neck, he snapped.
“I took out the spear and started stabbing her I fled the scene and went home. After my arrest I voluntarily pointed out the spear I used to the police and confessed to her murder,” he said.
He said he was remorseful for killing the woman he loved.
Mjoka’s Legal Aid lawyer, Pregasen Marimuthu, asked the court to strike a balance and consider the mitigating factors, that Mjoka had indicated to the police that he wanted to plead guilty from the beginning.
Judge Rashid Vahed changed the charge of premeditated murder to murder because the State accepted the factors contained in Mjoka’s plea that the murder was not planned. This meant Mjoka no longer faced the minimum prescribed sentence of life imprisonment for premeditated murder, but a minimum of 15 years’ imprisonment.
The judge said dealing with the case during the sensitive period of 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children was a reminder to society about the problem of abuse.
He urged Mjoka to use the time in prison to rehabilitate.