Durban - A KwaZulu-Natal man who killed the mother of his two children has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Nkosinathi Nkosi Zondo, 37, was convicted for the murders of his ex-girlfriend Nomvula Annacletta Ndlovu and her new boyfriend, Zethembe Makhathini.
He pleaded not guilty to the murders and was represented by Advocate Pauline Andrews during the trial.
Zondo killed the couple on Christmas Day in 2021.
According to State indictments, Zondo and Ndlovu had been in a love relationship, from which two children were born.
When the relationship became acrimonious, Ndlovu ended the relationship, and this angered Zondo.
She thereafter got into a relationship with Makhathini.
On December 25, 2021, Zondo went to visit his children and demanded that Ndlovu take him back and she refused.
He went on to accuse Makhathini of taking the mother of his children and threatened to stab him with the two knives he had been carrying.
Another person who had been there, Dumisani Mkhwanazi, managed to disarm Zondo of both knives.
When Ndlovu and Makhathini left for their home, Mkhwanazi returned the knives to Zondo because he had apparently demanded he do so.
Zondo went drinking at a local tavern and, later that evening, went to Makhathini’s home.
He kicked the door open and he found the two had been asleep.
Zondo proceeded to stab the couple to death.
Ndlovu died from stab wounds to the chest and lungs. She had sustained a total of 17 stab wounds.
Makhathini died from a stab wound to the neck.
Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Nathi Chili jailed Zondo to life imprisonment for each murder and 10 years for housebreaking.
In a victim impact statement handed to the court by State Advocate Mbongeni Chamane, Ndlovu’s sister, Senzekile Ndlovu, said she was now left to raise her sister’s five children.
She said her grandmother was so shocked after learning of the brutal murders she died the next week.
“While we were still preparing for my sister’s funeral, our grandmother sadly passed away. We had to bury two bodies at the same time.”
IOL