A 44-year-old man was sentenced to life in jail after he had stabbed his spouse 19 times with a kitchen knife and killed her at her home in Elim.

During a sitting of the circuit local division of the North Gauteng High Court held in Makhado, the court heard that a resident of Elim, Elvis Vincent Ngobeni, had murdered Laizer Nyisa Ndalane on 4 August 2011. The incident took place in full view of the deceased's nine-year-old son. Ndalane was stabbed mostly in the chest and left in a pool of blood. She was certified dead on the scene.

The court heard that Ngobeni, who had “sired the deceased's four-year-old daughter”, had killed Ndalane because he wanted to gain ownership of her property. “The lady was a woman of substance, who had a business, cars and a house,” argued senior state advocate Lucas Davhana. “She had even sought a protection order against the accused, because he had assaulted her in the presence of her two small children and taken her car away without her consent.”

The accused's defence, advocate Jackson Mushasha, made a submission to the court, asking for some mercy when sentencing the accused, because the crime was not premeditated. "He pleaded guilty to show his remorse," said Mushasha.

Judge Kgomo, however, indicated that the accused “initially pleaded guilty” because there was no choice. He ruled that the murder was planned. “This murder was not committed on the spur of the moment as the accused claims he killed the deceased in self-defence, after she had produced a kitchen knife from her black, velvet jacket,” said Kgomo.

“The conclusion is inescapable that he wanted to end her life and gain control over her property. Remorse is not something that one verbalises; one should show it through one's acts.” The court further stated that the accused had shocked even his defence when he lied that he had no knowledge of the protection order issued against him, which was made final on 7 June 2011.

Kgomo then described Ngobeni as an “evil and perverted murderer who has no respect for human life, particularly women and children.You had projected yourself as a kind of terrible terror that must be effectively removed from society."

The deceased's sister and guardian of the deceased's two children, who are four and 12, Polina Ndalane, said that she needed no financial help from the accused to raise her adopted children. “The brutal death of my sister still hurts me so much that even now when I look at the convict before this court I am not sure about what to do,” she testified.

However, after the court session, Polina said it was true that her sister would not come back, but she was satisfied with the court's judgement. “He deserves to rot in jail,” she shouted. She then sung the praises of Judge F Kgomo for sending Ngobeni to jail for life and of senior state advocate Lucas Davhana for securing a conviction and sentence.