The Durban High Court sentenced former Durban metro police officer Qiniso Sishi for the brutal murder of his wife, Thandokuhle.
Image: Zimbili Vilakazi
A former Metro Police officer has been sentenced to life imprisonment in the Durban High Court for the murder of his wife.
Constable Qinisi Sishi, 41, was convicted of murdering his 48-year-old wife, Thandokuhle Mkhize-Sishi, who was an attorney.
He stabbed her to death during a domestic dispute on July 26, 2025.
Sishi pleaded guilty to the murder in February and claimed to be remorseful for his actions.
Attorney Thandokuhle Mkhize-Sishi was killed by her husband, Qiniso Sishi.
Image: Facebook
However, the State Prosecutor, Advocate Rakesh Singh, rejected the apology.
In his plea explanation, Sishi explained that his marriage was marked by repeated incidents of violence and aggression by both parties.
The court heard the couple divorced in November 2024, but remarried in May 2025.
Sishi told the court that on the day of the incident, he was off-duty and visiting a local tavern with friends, where he drank about four bottles of alcohol.
During that time, his wife returned home with her daughter, and shortly after, he returned to their Woodhaven home. An argument broke out between the couple.
“During the argument, I suddenly fetched a kitchen knife, which I used to inflict multiple stab wounds in the chest and abdomen of the deceased,” the plea explanation read.
The spokesperson for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), Phaladi Shuping, said the daughter heard her mother screaming for help and ran out calling for help.
He said when neighbours arrived and tried to intervene, Sishi was violent and wanted to stab anyone who wanted to assist. The police soon arrived on the scene; unfortunately, the wife was declared dead at the scene.
The court sentenced Sishi to life imprisonment. He was further declared unfit to possess a firearm.
According to Ipid’s 2024/2025 annual report, 22 police officers were sentenced to varying sentences for domestic violence-related deaths in that financial year.
IOL