Kimberley - A 30-year-old man has been sentenced to 18 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of beating his mother to death with a sjambok, as well as assaulting three other women, including his sister.
Reason Mthonxa, 30, was sentenced in the Northern Cape High Court on Wednesday after he was found guilty of murdering his mother, Lenkiwe Elsie Mthonxa, by assaulting her with a sjambok, which had a metal tip.
He was also found guilty on five counts of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm (GBH) after he twice assaulted his girlfriend with a sjambok, as well as a knife and he also burnt her with a piece of coal. He also assaulted his sister, with a knife and a broken beer bottle, his friend with a garden fork and another girlfriend with a knife.
While handing down the sentence, Judge AJ Ndlokovane stated that the record of proceedings was replete with accounts and narratives of the nightmares the victims had to endure, some over a period of time.
Mdlokovana added that it was clear from the evidence that Mthonxa was a violent person.
“It is unquestionable that if he was not arrested, the devastation of these women’s lives and those dear to him would have continued. He showed no remorse or emotions. He sat stone-faced as his victims relived the nightmares of the incidents."
“He testified in his defence with the very same stony-faced attitude, shifting the goal post with regard to the murder count to his girlfriend. He did not ask forgiveness from his sister for the senseless murder of their mother."
“The deceased was brutally killed at the hands of her own son. Although no sentence can bring back a person to life, an appropriate sentence, in my view, can help bring a measure of closure to the bereaved family,” Mdlokovana said, before sentencing Mthonxa to 18 years imprisonment for the murder and five years imprisonment for each of the five assault GBH counts.
The five assault GBH sentences will run concurrently with the murder sentence, meaning Mthonxa will spend an effective 18 years in prison.
The Northern Cape Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Peter Shivuri, hailed the sentence and jail term handed down by the court. “The sentence will serve as a deterrent against the perpetrators of crime” Shivuri said.