The Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday sentenced 29-year-old Njabulo Ndlovu to five life sentences for three counts of murder and two counts of rape which he committed in Sabantu last month.
Ndlovu pleaded guilty last week Tuesday for the murders of grandmother Zanele Ndelela, 65, her daughter Simangele Ndelela, 46, and eight-year-old Zenande Ndelela. He also pled guilty to raping Zenande twice and also strangling her to death.
Some of the family members could not listen to the sentencing in full as the judge was describing the post-mortem of the gruesome scene where three people were brutally killed.
In sentencing judge Poyo Dlwati said Ndlovu showed no remorse when he was committing the offences. She also said the five life sentences are meant to deter other like-minded people, adding that the increase in these types of crimes was a serious concern.
“You stripped them, even at death, of their dignity, and most importantly, their right to life.”
Ndlovu alleged that he went to the Ndelela home with friends. They were having drinks and he and Simangele began flirting. He said Simangele asked him to sleep over and his friends left him behind. “Simangele and I proceeded to the bedroom where we had consensual sex,” Ndlovu had explained.
The accused said Zanele walked in and demanded that he should leave the house, but Simangele told him not to leave. Zanele returned with a knife and threatened to stab him.
According to Ndlovu a fight ensued, and they struggled for the knife, and they fell on the ground, and he strangled and stabbed her twice on the neck and on the temple above the eye. When Simangele woke up and saw her mom dead, Ndlovu strangled her to death.
“Zenande entered as I was trying to figure out what to do when she saw her gran on the floor and mom dead on the bed. She wanted to scream but I covered her mouth. I strangled her and raped her vaginally and anally. I strangled her again,” Ndlovu said.
Source: IOL, The Witness, image from Twitter: The Citizen