Former Lily Kirchmann caregiver Ncediswa Mkenkcele is going to prison for eight years for the 2015 assaults on the late Hope Shepherd, the East London Regional Court ruled this morning.
Magistrate Ignatius Kitching ruled that a correctional service supervision sentence "will be inappropriately lenient" and that as a result Mkenkcele who he found to not have been remorseful must go straight to jail.
He handed her a total of 15 years imprisonment on five counts of assaults but because the sentences will run concurrently, Kitching ordered that Mkenkcele serve at least eight years in prison.
Shepherd was a resident at Lily Kirchmann complex. Mkenkcele resigned from her job shortly before disciplinary action was instituted against her. The story has made national headlines and was recently aired by Carte Blanche.