An Eastern Cape man who killed and buried his wife under a bathtub has been sentenced to life behind bars.
Yibanathi MacGyver Ndema, a 45-year-old man from Butterworth, was on Wednesday convicted by the Mthatha High Court for the murder of his wife Noluvuyo Nonkwelo.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), in July 2019 Ndema strangled 36-year-old Nonkwelo to death and buried her body under a bathtub in their marital home at Zingqayi area in Butterworth.
The convicted murderer later reported to the police that his wife had gone missing, even though he knew he had committed the crime.
The court further sentenced Ndema to five years for acts with intent to defeat the ends of justice. He was sentenced to two years on each of the three counts of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, suspended for five years.
In court, judge Buyiswa Majiki directed the children of the couple to continue receiving trauma counselling as they were left traumatised after their father, whom they used to trust and love, killed their murder.
Majiki revealed that Ndema continued to contact them telephonically while in custody.
She agreed with the prosecution that the prevalence of crimes of this nature in the whole country called for expressly punitive sentences.
Marriage marred by abuse
NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said the couple’s marriage had been marred by domestic abuse, as Ndema was convicted of assaulting his wife in 2018 and 2019.
“The assaults were by a stick, clenched fists, open hands, burning her with hot water and pulling her with her hair,” said Tyali.
In 2021, the couple’s children alerted their grandparents that since their mother’s disappearance, the bathtub had been repositioned.
“That prompted the police to search Ndema’s home, leading to the discovery of the remains.
DNA results confirmed that the remains were indeed those of Nonkwelo and were released to her family for proper burial. Postmortem results revealed that the deceased died because of a fractured neck,” Tyali added.
During trial, he pleaded not guilty.
He also distanced himself from a confession he made to the police admitting that he had strangled his wife to death because she was having an extramarital affair, necessitating a trial-within-a-trial.
The court ultimately admitted the confession together with the disputed pointing-outs.
While still alive, the deceased once opened a case of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm against Ndema and was granted a protection order in January 2019.
But both the case and the protection order were later withdrawn.
