Durban — Three people have been handed 12 life sentences and 55 years each for the gruesome murders of 12 people in the KwaMpande area in the uMgungundlovu District of Pietermaritzburg last year.
The Pietermaritzburg High Court sentenced Mandisa Ngcobo, Mthobisi Makhathini and Sanele Aubrey Phetha to 12 life terms and 55 years’ imprisonment each for the murders, attempted murders, robbery with aggravating circumstances and arson they committed in May 2023.
KwaZulu-Natal National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said Mandisa wanted one of the survivors and complainant in the attempted murder charge, Lizwe Ngcobo, to sell drugs on his behalf and Lizwe refused.
Mandisa asked Mthobisi, Sanele and other assailants to help. They planned to attack Lizwe at his home where he (Lizwe) sold drugs and put him out of business.
On May 14, 2023, the accused went to Lizwe’s house where they found other drug users smoking drugs. The accused made them undress and forced them into a small bathroom. The bathroom door was closed, and the house was set on fire. An assailant was placed outside the bathroom window, armed with a bush knife, to ensure that no one escaped through there.
Eight of the deceased died on the scene while four others died in hospital. Their cause of death was consistent with burns. Lizwe and two others survived the attack.
The accused also took cash that was on the property. They were arrested after police followed up on information.
Ramkisson-Kara said that in court, the State-led eyewitness testimonies and a confession (admitted by the court) were made by an accused.
She said in aggravation of the sentence, the State submitted Victim Impact Statements compiled by family members of the deceased and the complainants and facilitated by Court Preparation Officer Mbalenhle Komane. The statements spoke of the kindness of the deceased and how many of them largely supported their families. The family members said that they were utterly traumatised as some of them had rushed to the scene of the crime and had seen the state of their loved ones.
The aunt of one of the deceased said: “I thank God for answering my prayers because at least justice played its role. The courts of law did not fail us.”
“Each of the accused received the following sentence: 12 terms of life imprisonment for the murders, 30 years’ imprisonment for the attempted murders, 15 years’ imprisonment for the robbery with aggravating circumstances and 10 years’ imprisonment for arson. They will serve an effective term of life imprisonment. They were declared unfit to possess a firearm and the court further dismissed their application for leave to appeal,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
Last year, speaking to the Daily News, some of the family members of the 12 men who were burnt to death by a gang of armed suspects after telling them to have sex with each other, referred to the house where the men were killed as a drug den.
The daughter of one of the deceased, Thembelihle Khumalo, said the victims used the house as a meeting spot to smoke whoonga.
She said it was not the first incident. The house was attacked before and people armed with guns would come and attack the inhabitants.
She said before her father died, he had told her that a group of people pointed guns at them and told them to have sex with each other.
Ward councillor S’khanyiso Makhanya said he received complaints from community members, saying that they are not happy about the house because it was harbouring criminals.
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Daily News