Jealous Mpumalanga lover sentenced to life in jail for ex-lover’s murder

A 30-year-old man Mpumalanga has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the High Court of South Africa, Mpumalanga Division sitting in Breyten, for the murder of his ex-lover Thuli Mavuso on Monday November 16. He was also sentenced to three years imprisonment for house breaking.

Thulasizwe Mtholephi Kunene, of Mangosuthu in Piet Retief, was convicted after pleading guilty to pleaded  the charges.

Mpumalanga NPA spokesperson, Monica Nyuswa, said  the incident occurred after Kunene broke up with Mavuso.

In his plea statement,  Kunene told the court that he and Mavuso had two children. At some stage, Mavuso terminated their relationship and fell in love with another man. This angered him and decided to kill Mavuso.

Nyuswa said nn 07 July 2019, Kunene took a machete and went to the house where Mavuso was with her new boyfriend. He attacked Mavuso with the machete in the living room and  chopped her body several times and left her partially decapitated. He fled the scene on foot and was arrested at his work place the following day.

In mitigation of sentence, Kunene told the court that he was angered by the termination of the relationship and the threats  made to him by Mavuso’s boyfriend.

Prosecutor, senior state advocate Ashwin Poodhun, said Kunene was not remorseful of his actions otherwise he would have called for assistance after he realised that he made a mistake and not to run away and conceal the murder weapon.

Judge Hein Brauckmann said violence against women and children is the most shameful human rights violation and that  it knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth and as long as it continued the country cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace.

He sentenced Kunene to three life years for housebreaking and life imprisonment for murder. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently, the effective sentence being a life term.

The Acting Director of Public Prosecutions, Adv Matric Luphondo, attributed this sentence to the collaborated efforts of the Justice-Cluster in maintaining law and order .

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