The Mthatha High Court has sentenced Nkosiphendule
Somhlahlo (27), to effective 50 years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to
two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder.
The court sentenced him to 20 years imprisonment for
each count of murder and 10 years for each attempted murder charge. It ordered
the sentences of attempted murder, to run concurrently.
On March 29 ,2022, Somhlahlo, of Ntilini Location in
Libode was with his sister at their homestead, when without any reason, he took
a knife and stabbed her on her thigh and her back.
When his sister ran out to her bedroom where her baby
was, he stabbed her three-year-old infant to death. He then went to another
bedroom which was occupied by a tenant and stabbed the tenant’s eight-year-old
child to death. His brother came to intervene, and he stabbed him in the back
as well.
Somhlahlo’s attorney submitted, that he left school at
a young age and involved himself with alcohol and drugs. On the day in
question, he was under the influence of drugs and could not remember what
prompted him to commit such heinous acts.
State Advocate Banele Mhlongo argued that Somhlahlo
had no one to blame but himself as he voluntarily involved himself with drugs,
rebutting the use of drugs as not a mitigating factor but rather an aggravating
one.
When sentencing, Judge Buyiswa Majiki noted what was
submitted on Somhlahlo’s behalf, that he is remorseful of his actions as he
committed to never involving himself with drugs again.
