The communication officer of the Vuwani police, Insp Elijah Malatjie, hailed the 21-year jail sentence meted out to a man convicted of murder by the Thohoyandou High Court as a deterrent.

Malatjie was commenting after a man who was charged with murder was convicted and sent to a long jail term last week.

The man, 21-year-old Hasani Vinny Maluleke from Shigalo village outside Malamulele, was employed by a Pakistani businessman as a gardener in the Vuwani township in March 2007. In the morning of March 27 last year, the man confronted his employer’s wife, who was in the bedroom, while her husband was away on business.

It was testified in court that Maluleke had told the wife that the husband had not given him his full salary. She then told him that he would get his money when her husband returned. Maluleke then produced a knife and stabbed her in the throat; she died on the spot.

Maluleke then locked the deceased in the bedroom and also locked the main gate before running away. He was later arrested after police were tipped off about his whereabouts by members of the community.

He appeared before Judge Hetisani at the Thohoyandou High Court and on May 21, 2008, he was sentenced to 21 years’ imprisonment. In sentencing him, the judge said the sentence would deter him and also help him refrain from taking a person’s life for no apparent reason.

Malatjie commended members of the public for the role they were playing in fighting crime. "It is only through a united front that we can defeat the criminals and put them in jail where they belong, "he said. He said it was the joint effort of the police, members of the public and the justice system that helped stop Maluleke from following his evil ways.