Pretoria - A total of 11 deadly stab wounds – mostly to the face and neck – have sent the killer of ANC MPL Mapiti Matsena to jail for an effective 30 years.
Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, Judge Hennie de Vos yesterday described the attack on an unsuspecting Matsena as “brutal”. “If you stab someone in the face, the intention is clear – you want to kill him,” the judge said.
The killer, Monoko Thoka, 30, had pleaded guilty to murder and house-breaking with the intent to rob and kill. He was sentenced to 12 years for the housebreaking, and an additional 25 years for the murder, but the judge ordered some of the sentences to run concurrently.
His reason for the killing was “revenge” and “defending his honour”.
Thoka told Judge De Vos that he knew the consequences of his guilty plea, and knew he would spend many years in jail. It had emerged from a post-mortem report that Thoka had stabbed the former ANC regional deputy chairperson and caucus leader in council at least 11 times at the MPL’s Doornpoort, north of Pretoria, home on July 15 last year.
According to his plea explanation, Thoka was upset because Matsena refused to hand back some of his belongings, including his ID, which were still in his room on the premises.
Thoka, who was employed to take care of Matsena’s autistic son, had quit the job.
Matsena died at the scene due to multiple stab wounds and a subsequent loss of blood. Matsena and his killer were from the same village of Ga-Marikana and knew each other well.
The slain MPL’s widow, Matema Matsena, said in a victim impact report that she and her husband were watching a soapie on TV on the evening of his murder.
Her husband answered a telephone call, and while he was on the phone in the bathroom, Thoka suddenly appeared in the room.
He held a knife over her mouth, and indicated that she should remain quiet. He then threw a blanket over her.
When her husband returned, Thoka hid behind the curtains.
When he emerged and her husband saw him, a fight broke out between them.
She said Thoka first stabbed her husband in the neck and blood squirted all over the wardrobe doors. She begged Thoka not to hurt her husband and ran out of the bedroom to try to find help.
Pretoria News