Johannesburg- Suitcase murder accused Alutha Pasile has pleaded guilty to the murder of his deceased girlfriend Nosicelo Mtebeni.
23-year-old Mtebeni was found dead on the 19th of August with her dismembered body parts shoved in a suitcase and other parts were found in rubbish bags.
She was doing her final year of studying towards the LLB degree at the University of Fort Hare.
Pasile was arrested and charged for her murder on the same day that Mtebeni’s body was discovered.
The lead detective on the matter, sergeant Mbulelo Njoli said the investigation led him to the commune where Pasile and Mtebeni had rented a room and he was interviewing everyone in the commune until he noted bloodstains in Pasile’s room.
Pasile revealed some gruesome details of how he committed Mtebeni’s murder and dismembered her body parts in an attempt to evade arrest and prosecution.
In a plea statement that was read out at the East London High Court by his lawyer Ncumisa Dyantyi from the Legal Aid Board, Pasile said he and Mtebeni had an argument after he took herself to read her messages while she was in the bathroom.
He said he suspected that Mtebeni had an affair because her behaviour changed after she had gone home to Matatiele in early August.
Pasile told the court that Mtebeni wouldn’t let him touch her cellphone and had changed its password, something that was not an issue before she went home.
He said during the altercation he tried to stab Mtebeni with a knife but because she was fighting the knife fell off.
Pasile said he pushed Mtebeni hard against the wall and after that, she fell with her face to the ground. After realising that she was dead he went to buy DIY tools and drugs and then began to cut her body parts into pieces.
The state prosecutor Nicky Turner said while the minimum sentence for someone who has pleaded guilty on the matter, the state is seeking diversion.
Following his plea, the state began a pre-sentencing argument in an effort to convince the presiding judge Nomathamsanqa Beshe that Pasile deserves more than just a minimum sentence.
The state presented an autopsy report, a report by the lead detective sergeant Njoli and Mtebeni’s father Kholisile Mtebeni.
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