‘Problematic’ KZN teenager who killed a teacher with a spear, jailed for 17 years

Published Oct 27, 2022

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Durban – A KwaZulu Natal teenager who pleaded guilty to killing a teacher has been sentenced to 17 years behind bars.

Lungisile Tammara Nzama was murdered on October 15, last year.

The murder incident took place in the Nhlangakazi area in the district of Ndwedwe.

In September, the teenager who cannot be identified because he is a minor, told the court how he and a friend killed Nzama, stole her car and planned to dispose of her body.

Their plans were thwarted when en route to dispose of the body, which they had in the boot, their car broke down.

Both friends fled the scene leaving the body there and were later arrested.

This week Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Bezuidenhout AJ sentenced the teenager to 17 years for murder, 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstance and 8 years for housebreaking.

All sentences will run concurrently.

In his guilty plea handed to the court by Legal Aid attorney Amanda Hulley, the boy said that on the day of the murder he had been drinking alcohol and smoking drugs with his co-accused.

He said they planned to steal Nzama’s car and when they entered the home through an open window they couldn’t find the car key.

The teenager said he armed himself with a spear and his co-accused an axe.

They went to the bedroom to search for the key where the deceased had been asleep and when she started to wake up they attacked her by stabbing her with the spear and using the belt of her gown to strangle her.

According to pre-sentence reports handed to the court the accused was a first time offender having completed Grade 7.

His mother said that he had always displayed problematic behaviour and started smoking dagga in 2020.

She also told the court that he would physically assault her and steal from home.

The teenager moved homes between his mother and father.

According to a victim impact statement handed to the court by State advocate Mbongeni Mthembu, after Nzama’s sister Smangele Mngoma had died, the family was torn apart. She was the sole supporter of her family.

IOL