Johannesburg – Dumisani Mkhwanazi has been found guilty of the murder of UJ student, Palesa Madiba, who went missing in 2013 and her body found two years later in a shallow grave at a house in Phiri, Soweto.
Mkhwanazi was found guilty on Friday in the South Gauteng High Court by Judge Prince Manyathi on charges of murder, theft, the possession of firearm and ammunition and defeating the ends of justice.
The judge said the State had succeeded in proving charges against Mkhwanazi.
Madiba had gone to visit her friend, Matshidiso – who is Mkhwanazi’s niece – when she went missing.
Matshidiso had left her behind as she was rushing to work. Madiba was to leave later, to attend classes at UJ’s Kingsway Campus. However, she never made it to class nor leave the Mkhwanazi home.
Mkhwanazi, who lived in a back room of his family home, was said to have entered the main house and attempted to seize Madiba’s cellphone, assaulted her, strangled her, then buried her in a shallow grave in the back.
Madiba’s remains were discovered two years later by a neighbour who saw a human hand protruding from the ground and alerted the police.
Mkhwanazi, 36, was was arrested on July 29 last year in a hideout in Protea, Soweto.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Before Mkhwanazi was arrested last year, his family obtained a protection order against Madiba’s family preventing them from going to their house.
IOL