Cape Town - A Zimbabwean man pleaded guilty in the Western Cape High Court on Monday morning to stabbing Mbuyiselo Manona to death last year and removing his heart.
Andrew Chimboza, 35, entered into a plea agreement on the first day of his trial.
He pleaded guilty before Judge Ashley Binns-Ward and his plea explanation was then read out. In it, he apologised for killing Manona, 62, at the Gugulethu home of a former female client of his last June (2014).
“I am sorry for what I have done and I have genuine remorse,” he said in the document.
He explained that he had visited a female client at her home after she wanted him to check up on the window tinting he had done for her.
He said they were friends and that he had visited her home a few times.
When he arrived, he said Manona asked what he wanted there and demanded that he leave. Manona allegedly insulted him and swore at him, but he entered anyway.
Chimboza gave his client R50 and she left to buy alcohol. He thought Manona would walk with her but he decided to stay.
After coming out of the bathroom, Manona allegedly knocked him in the face and accused him of having sex with his partner.
“I was so shocked I let the deceased hit me. I noticed that he took a knife and was standing over me,” he said.
Chimboza said he was aware that Manona wanted to stab him and he kicked him in the groin. Manona dropped in pain, Chimboza took a fork from the floor and he stabbed him in the neck.
“I then disarmed him and used the same knife to stab him. I slit his throat and continued to stab him. I was so angry that I did not remember how many times I stabbed him or where,” he said.
Chimboza said he knew his actions were wrong and exceeded the boundaries of self-defence.
The post mortem revealed Manona died from wounds to the neck, chest, and abdomen.
Chimboza sat in the dock without much expression.
The State accepted his plea and Binns-Ward found him guilty of murder without premeditation.
During proceedings in the Athlone Magistrate's Court last year, the State alleged it had eyewitnesses who saw Chimboza sitting on Manona, eating pieces of his heart. No mention of that was made in the explanation on Monday.
Prosecutor Jacqueline Sibiya said she believed the removal of the heart was not the cause of death per se and thus did not have too much bearing on the plea of murder.
However, she intended calling the doctor who performed the post mortem as a witness in aggravation of sentence.
Sentencing proceedings would begin on Tuesday.
Sapa