/ 6 November 2007

‘He humiliated and defiled her pregnant body’

A 21-year-old man was handed a life sentence by the Grahamstown High Court on Tuesday for raping and killing his sister-in-law.

Judge Nambitha Dambuza, who sat with two assessors, also sentenced Themba Ngxokongxa, of Siviwe, Komga, to 20 years for rape and 15 for robbery with aggravating circumstances.

The sentences for rape and robbery will run concurrently with the life sentence.

Ngxokongxa was convicted in September of killing, raping and robbing Sindisa Kalani (30) of Siviwe on October 5 2006. Her naked body was found in the veld near Siviwe, and the trial court heard that her eyes and genitals had been smeared with mud.

Dambuza said it was a cruel, calculating and cold-blooded crime in which the woman was strangled three times before being killed. ”The accused violently degraded and humiliated her and she died an agonising death. He humiliated and defiled her pregnant body.”

At the time of her death, Kalani was also four months pregnant with her husband’s first child. She was also robbed of R13.

The accused, who initially pleaded not guilty, changed his plea on the fourth day of the trial, and admitted that he had covered Kalani’s eyes with mud ”so that people cannot see from her eyes that I am the one that killed her”.

IsiXhosa-speaking clinical psychologist Karen Andrews told the court before sentencing that Nxokongxa had ”narcissistic, paranoid and psychopathic/antisocial personality traits”.

”He has a sense of entitlement, lacks empathy for others and is exploitative and cannot tolerate criticism. He fails to comply with social norms or rules, and demonstrates a total lack of insight to what he has done, or the distress he has caused others.”

Andrews said she considered him to be a danger to society.

This view was echoed by senior state advocate Nickie Turner, who earlier asked for two life sentences to be imposed for the rape and murder.

Nxokongxa showed no reaction to his sentence other than to look at the judge as she gave her verdict. — Sapa