JOHANNESBURG - The Mtunzini High Court in the Eastern Cape convicted and sentenced two men to life imprisonment for the murder of a policewoman, 15 years for armed robbery and five years imprisonment for kidnapping, police said on Wednesday.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Thulani Zwane said Lucky Masinga, 35, and Vincent Zikhali, 38, were sentenced on 17 May 2019 after the judge heard how they killed a policewoman, Constable Senzeni Zibuyisile Msipha, 36, in 2018.
"Msipha, who was stationed at Mtunzini police station, was off-duty at the time of her killing. The third accused, Siyabonga Khumalo, 29, is already serving his sentence of 39 years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to murder on 18 April 2018."
Zwane said on 31 January 2018, Nyoni police officers attended to a complaint of what appeared to be an accident along the P266 road in their policing precinct.
"On arrival at the scene, they noticed a vehicle which was on fire and found the driver burnt beyond recognition. A case of culpable homicide was opened at Nyoni police station. In the meantime, Gingindlovu police station was investigating a missing persons docket after Constable Msipha was reported missing from her home at Gingindlovu. She was last seen alive with her boyfriend and did not return home."
Zwane said following an intensive investigation by Nyoni detectives, they managed to link the missing person docket with the culpable homicide case that they were investigating.
"Her boyfriend, Lucky Masinga and his friends Vincent Zikhali and Siyabonga Khumalo were arrested. The docket was changed to murder after evidence indicated that the victim was killed before she was burnt. Results of DNA samples taken from the remains of the burnt body concluded that it was that of Constable Msipha."