A 34-year-old man has been sentenced to life and six years in prison for kidnapping and killing 11-year-old Kgothatso Tshabalala after her mother rejected his romantic advances.
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ordered Conwell Mongezi Chauke to serve the sentence concurrently and was further declared unfit to possess a firearm.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said Tshabalala was killed on December 29, 2020, after her mother received a threatening call from Chauke, a member of her prayer group and prayer partner.
“Chauke began to threaten the mother over the phone because she did not agree to meet with him the previous day and believed that she was taking him for a fool as he was interested in pursuing a love relationship with her,” said Mahanjana.
Mahanjana explained that later that day, Chauke went to Mamelodi East where Tshabalala and her mother were residing and upon arrival, he found her playing with her younger sister at the neighbour’s house.
“He then lured the child under the pretence that he wanted to collect his belongings from her home. When they got into her home, Chauke stabbed the child sixty-six times, he covered her body with linen on top of her bed and fled the scene.
“When the neighbours could not find the child, they went to look for her at her house and they found her deceased body on top of her bed,” said Mahanjana.
Two days later, Chauke handed himself over at the Lyttleton Police Station and has been in custody since.
In court, he denied kidnapping Tshabalala and only pleaded guilty to the charge of murder and blamed his actions on the anger he felt towards her mother.
However, the State produced evidence which proved that Chauke lured and kidnapped the 11-year-old.
During sentence proceedings, his legal representative, asked the court to consider the three years he spent in prison awaiting trial and added that even though he has previous convictions of theft, he is a first offender of violent crimes.
However, State prosecutor advocate Sipho Lalane argued that even though Chauke pleaded guilty to the charge of murder, he did not show remorse but was regretful of his actions.
“He stabbed and killed a minor child who was defenceless, vulnerable and could not protect herself, because her mother did not agree to his pursuit of a love relationship,” said Lalane.
Lalane submitted victim impact statements from the child’s mother and sister, detailing the profound psychological and emotional toll the murder had taken on their lives.
“The mother of the deceased expressed that since her child was killed, she is not psychologically well and that Chauke took away her best friend.
“The deceased sister mentioned that she is always lonely because she does not have anyone to play with as the deceased was also a friend to her. She also added that her school performance has declined after losing her sister,’’ said Mahanjana.
When handing down the sentence, Judge Jacobus Johannes Strijdom said Chauke was merciless when he stabbed the girl 66 times which shows that he is a danger to society.
“The interest of justice outweighs his circumstances, therefore, the court found no substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentence.
-IOL News
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