RAPE, MURDER CONVICT JAILED 35YRS

MANZINI - A man who was previously convicted of rape and murder has been sentenced to a total of 55 years imprisonment without an option to pay a fine, for committing a similar offence.

Lwazi Knowledge Myeni was faced with three counts of murder, rape and contempt of court. The convict appeared before Acting Judge David Khumalo last Friday, where he was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment in the first count of murder, as well as 20 years imprisonment with no fine in the second count. Both sentences are to run  concurrently. He was further sentenced to six months in prison with an option to pay a fine of E1 300 in the last count. This sentence is to run consecutively.

Charge

In the first charge, Myeni killed Phindile Precious Sibandze by strangling her with an unknown object. This happened on September 16, 2018, at Ndubazi area in the Shiselweni Region. In the second charge, he contravened the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act by having unlawful sexual intercourse with Sibandze on September 16, 2018 in the same area.

The third and last charge relates to contempt of court after the convict is said to have unlawfully and intentionally failed to appear at the Nhlangano Magistrates Court on September 17, 2018. Myeni had been previously convicted and sentenced for rape and murder on April 21, 2011. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for each count. It was explained that he got released much earlier due to stator discounts relating to good conduct.

Meanwhile, when delivering the judgment, Acting Judge Khumalo highlighted that when the charges were read to Myeni, he pleaded not guilty on counts one and two but guilty on three. He mentioned that a total of 17 witnesses were called by the prosecution in an effort to prove its case against Myeni. Among the evidence brought to court by one Senzo Khumalo, it was revealed that he proceeded to the bush to fetch some shrubs for purposes of extinguishing fire at his home. The witness is said to have made a grisly discovery of a female body that was lying dead.

Witness

He returned home to call his wife so that she could as well witness the discovery and later called the community police. They came to the scene and in turn called the police. Evidence submitted by community police member Sipho Vilane was to the effect that he arrived at the scene where he was shown a woman with a swollen face and head, together with a bleeding nose. Vilane said they took steps to establish if the body had been brought to the scene by a motor vehicle. However, there were no such signs, according to Vilane, but rather there were drag marks from the playground leading to the scene where the dead body was found. He concluded together with his colleagues that the body had been dragged to the scene. The woman was reportedly wearing a leopard print dress.

Dead

Another witness, one Sandile Siboniso Mkhwanazi, told the court that he was on his way to his other home when he saw Myeni moving towards the fields on September 15 at about 8pm. According to the witness, this was next to the spot where the deceased was later found dead the following day. The acting judge stated that in as much as it was denied in cross-examination that the convict was responsible for killing the deceased, it was not denied that he met the witness at the spot next to the scene of murder.

In meting the sentence, Acting Judge Khumalo considered the trite law, which entails taking into consideration the seriousness of the offence, the interests of society, as well as those of the offender. He also considered the legal requirement that each case must be dealt with on its own merits. Khumalo also took into account that Myeni was not a first-time offender. He stated that he was convicted and sentenced for rape and murder on April 21, 2011, and was backdated to the date on which he got arrested.

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