Durban — Bongani Sanele Mlambo was sentenced to 22 years imprisonment on Friday in the Durban High Court.
Mlambo, 28, stabbed his girlfriend Xolile Mbatha, a final-year electrical engineering student, in July 2022 while she was in the bathroom at Ark Royal student residence in Mahatma Gandhi Road, Durban.
In his plea, Mlambo told the court in October that after killing, her he jumped into a taxi going to Umlazi and then fled to his homestead in Hluhluwe.
Mlambo handed himself over to police nearly two months after the murder.
Mlambo and Mbatha were in a relationship after having connected on Facebook in 2018.
Their relationship was blossoming and going well until 2021 when the deceased started communicating (sending messages) with a male fellow congregant, and when Mlambo asked her about this, she said the man was sending her bible verses.
Previously in his plea Mlambo had explained that when he saw the messages on Mbatha’s phone he saw that the man was “proposing love” to her.
He said that when he confronted the man, he did not deny what was happening and apologised, saying it would stop; however, it did not.
Mlambo said he then reported that matter to church elders and at a meeting, the man admitted to what was happening and apologised, adding that it would stop.
“The communication continued and this was putting strain on the relationship. In July 2022, the deceased told me she was pregnant with twins,” said Mlambo.
He said at first he was excited by the news. However, following this Mbatha was not taking his calls and a few days after this she contacted him, telling him she had a miscarriage.
Mlambo explained that understanding that Mbatha needed his support through the loss they had experienced, on July 30 he went to check on Mbatha at Mangosuthu University of Technology’s outsourced residence.
However, when he got there Mbatha chased him away, telling him to never set foot there again.
The next day, Mlambo went back to his girlfriend’s place and found her in the bathroom, but when he tried to open the door to come in she pushed it in an attempt to stop him.
“She was shouting and while we were arguing, her friend came in, asking why I was being a nuisance as Mbatha no longer wanted me. I picked up a knife on top of a table nearby. She was fighting and at some point she regained possession of the knife and stabbed me, which made me angry. When I had the knife, I stabbed her multiple times.”
Passing sentence, Judge Sharmaine Balton said that while the court accepted that this was a crime of passion, she could not overlook that when Mlambo went to Mbatha’s place the first time, she had chased him away.
“He should not have gone back. It is difficult when regard is given to that the accused did not stop after the first stab wound was inflicted, but he continued. Given the nature of the injuries, any sentence less that the one the court will impose will indicate that our courts do not view such cases in a serious light.”
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