The Thohoyandou High Court sentenced Lutendo Madume (25) to life imprisonment and two years on charges of murder and kidnapping last Wednesday.

On 8 January 2013, Madume kidnapped a Grade 10 pupil, Tuwani Portia Fhetani (20), when she was on her way from collecting her results from Tshiungulela Secondary School at Tshikwarani village. He stabbed her to death the next morning.

Acting Judge Jackson Mushasha described Madume as a “disrespectful individual” who deserved to be “totally removed from society”.

He added that if the court "does not remove you from the community by sending you to jail for life, the community would also go around killing one another, knowing that the law does nothing to people who commit such crimes.”

Mushasha had established that the victim had died of haemorrhage shock after she had been stabbed at least four times by Madume. He said that the kind of knife which was used to kill the victim was a unique knife, with the handle in the middle and it was sharp on both sides. He also read out State Adv Ratshilumela Makhera's submission that the convict was not a first offender, and that the probationer's report proved that Madume failed to respect his family members as well.

“His mother moved out of the home to stay in another place because he wanted to interfere with her relationship (with his stepfather),” said Mushasha.

When the court imposed sentence on Madume, he wept profusely. He had maintained a plea of not guilty throughout the trial, saying that he didn't have any idea how Tuwani died.

The director of Munna ndi nnyi (Who is the real man), Mr Bardwell Mufunwaini, said that the organisation had been following this case diligently. “Killing a human being is not allowed,” said Mufunwaini. “There was a time when the courts released criminals who committed heinuous crimes, and we felt the justice system was betraying members of the community who came forward with information which assisted the police to arrest those criminals. Now we are happy that justice is doing the right thing. We will continue to encourage people to inform the police of  all criminal incidents, because the law is doing its duty.”