One of three youths accused of hacking an Eastern Cape mother and her two children to death in April 2013 and concealing their lifeless bodies in neighbours’ pit toilets has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Bhisho High Court.
Thulani Nkomoni, 20, who was 18 years old at the time, was last week sentenced to life imprisonment on three counts of murder, robbery and housebreaking.
The bodies of 44-year old Sibongile Loko of Velwano village in Ndevana outside King William’s Town and her two children – Mthobi, five, and four-month-old Thembakazi – were found by neighbours stashed in two pit toilets a few days after they disappeared.
Nkomoni’s two co-accused, 20-year-old Sinethemba Phillip and 19-year-old Ayabulela Tshali, from the same village, received lesser sentences for being accomplices to the gruesome crime, which left the village in shock.
Phillip was sentenced to six years in prison for hiding information about the crime, while Tshali got five years for his role in concealing it.
Court papers reveal Nkomoni acted alone in killing Loko and her children.
The decomposing bodies of the Loko family were found by neighbours wire-bound, with multiple stab wounds, wrapped in blood-soaked blankets and dumped in two pit toilets.
The bodies were discovered four days after the incident after neighbours noticed a foul smell from one of the toilets.
They made the gruesome discovery after spotting blood-soaked blankets inside their pit latrines.
The trio were arrested a day after the discovery after one of them confessed to his older brother and later pointed out his co-accused to police.
Ndevana’s Velwano village has been named by provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Celiwe Binta as a hotspot for the brutal murders of women and children.
During a Daily Dispatch visit to the area last year, shaken community members said they feared venturing out at night.
Most women in the village, especially those who lived alone, were shaken by the incident.
King William’s Town police cluster commander Brigadier Henry Vos this week welcomed the conviction and sentencing.
He praised the police for swiftly arresting the suspects and for the investigations that led to their conviction.
“Such people do not deserve to be in our community. We cannot tolerate such people who violate the rights of women and children,” Vos said. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
Youth gets life term for murders
Thulani Nkomoni, 20, who was 18 years old at the time, was last week sentenced to life imprisonment on three counts of murder, robbery and housebreaking.
The bodies of 44-year old Sibongile Loko of Velwano village in Ndevana outside King William’s Town and her two children – Mthobi, five, and four-month-old Thembakazi – were found by neighbours stashed in two pit toilets a few days after they disappeared.
Nkomoni’s two co-accused, 20-year-old Sinethemba Phillip and 19-year-old Ayabulela Tshali, from the same village, received lesser sentences for being accomplices to the gruesome crime, which left the village in shock.
Phillip was sentenced to six years in prison for hiding information about the crime, while Tshali got five years for his role in concealing it.
Court papers reveal Nkomoni acted alone in killing Loko and her children.
The decomposing bodies of the Loko family were found by neighbours wire-bound, with multiple stab wounds, wrapped in blood-soaked blankets and dumped in two pit toilets.
The bodies were discovered four days after the incident after neighbours noticed a foul smell from one of the toilets.
They made the gruesome discovery after spotting blood-soaked blankets inside their pit latrines.
The trio were arrested a day after the discovery after one of them confessed to his older brother and later pointed out his co-accused to police.
Ndevana’s Velwano village has been named by provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Celiwe Binta as a hotspot for the brutal murders of women and children.
During a Daily Dispatch visit to the area last year, shaken community members said they feared venturing out at night.
Most women in the village, especially those who lived alone, were shaken by the incident.
King William’s Town police cluster commander Brigadier Henry Vos this week welcomed the conviction and sentencing.
He praised the police for swiftly arresting the suspects and for the investigations that led to their conviction.
“Such people do not deserve to be in our community. We cannot tolerate such people who violate the rights of women and children,” Vos said. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
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