Johannesburg - The man who doused his girlfriend with petrol and set her on fire was set to be sentenced on Thursday after he was convicted last month.
On October 26 in 2018, the then 27-year-old Mpho Thobane doused 32-year-old Viwe Dalingozi with petrol as she slept then set her on fire at their flat in the Joburg CBD . He then fled to Limpopo.
Dalingozi, who was from Engcobo in the Eastern Cape, diedmafter two days of excruciating pain.
Johannesburg Police spokesperson Captain Xoli Mbele said Thobane had arrived home that evening to find Dalingozi sitting with her with friends on another floor. Thobane, he said, was unemployed and Dalingoi was the breadwinner.
He said Thobane joined them and later said they must leave. However, Dalingozi told him that he can go ahead and she would find him at the flat.
“When she later went their flat, she did not find him and then got into bed to sleep. Thobane later came, poured petrol on her and set her on fire.
“He fled to Limpopo where we arrested him four days later.
During the trial, the couple’s neighbour told court that she saw Dalingozi running down the corridor while engulfed in flames.
Maletsatsi Ngoashe said before that, she had heard the couple speaking loudly.
Sometime later there was a strange sound and smell but she did not know where it came from.
She said it went on for some time and it was like a burning plastic and the smell was like was burning paint.
“I jumped out of my bed and felt that the floor was hot.
"I rushed to the door and tried to listen to what was happening. As my ear touched the wall, I felt how hot it was," Ngoashe said.
"Then I opened my door and saw Viwe running. She was on fire and she was screaming that nditshisiwe uMpho (Mpho has set me alight). I saw a huge flame coming from her flat and I followed her as she was running towards the stairs.
“Her hair was falling off and she had blood on her chest. She was trying to take off her T-shirt, it was burnt and she was trying to remove it from her body, but couldn't,” Ngoashe said.
An ambulance was called and Dalingozi was rushed to hospital where she died two days later.
IOL