Cape Town – An Eastern Cape man who torched the home his children and wife were living in has received a heavy sentence in the Aliwal Regional Court.
The 43-year-old Erico Jacobs, who had been found guilty on two counts of attempted murder and of arson, was sentenced to 26 years’ imprisonment in total.
Despite having had a protection order against him following incidents of domestic violence, Jacobs threw petrol in the house while his children and wife were inside and set it alight on December 22, 2018. They managed to escape by kicking open a door.
Last week, a man was arrested for hacking his wife and five children, three of whom where his, to death in the Eastern Cape.
The 42-year-old mother and her children – aged between six months and 10 years old – were found dead in their home in Dabekweni, situated between Coffee Bay and Mthatha.
The 16-year-old first-born son of the woman was the first on the scene.
Police Ministry spokesperson Lirandzu Themba described the incident as a bloody start to the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children.
Thembu said the family were attacked and killed with an axe, believed to be the same weapon found at the crime scene.
Within 24 hours after the heinous crime, police arrested the Zimbabwean national, who had been in hiding.
Nowa Makula, 32, made his first court appearance in the Elliotdale Magistrate’s Court on Monday and will make a formal bail application on December 7.
In August, a mob brutally killed five family members in Mount Ayliff in the Eastern Cape.
The mob had gone to the home at about 1am and called one of the family members outside. A 55-year-old man was stabbed to death with sharp instruments on exiting the house.
The mob proceeded to set the house alight, killing four family members, including children. The motive for the killings was not known.
IOL