Court cracks down on GBV in wake of NMU tragedy

Update

GEORGE NEWS - Gender-based crimes, such as the murder of Nelson Mandela University (NMU) student Zimkhitha Ntshisela inside her George Campus residence on 6 May 2023, have been singled out for severe punishment.

During the judgment and sentencing of her killer, Luyanda Mahlanza, in the George Magistrate’s Court last week, the presiding officer, whom the media is barred from naming, said the sentencing must deter other like-minded offenders and students at universities and educational institutions from resorting to violence when there is conflict between them and their partners.

“These gender-based crimes are highly prevalent now,” the magistrate said.

He added that femicide has also been highlighted in various reports, underlining concerns specifically around domestic violence and the killing of partners during incidents in which violence is used to resolve a dispute.

Mahlanza was found guilty of murder with criminal intent and sentenced to life behind bars. He was also declared unfit to own a firearm.

When did the stabbing stop?
At the time of the offence, Mahlanza was a 22-year-old second-year student at NMU George, enrolled for a diploma in management. Ntshisela (20), his girlfriend, was a fellow student carrying her family’s hopes and dreams of upliftment and a better life on her shoulders.

In essence, having saved every penny in order to pay for her education, Ntshisela’s family looked upon her as their own future.

However, 16 stab wounds and 28 superficial incised wounds, inflicted by her intimate partner with a large knife, would deprive not only Ntshisela, but also her family back home in Kokstad, KZN, of this opportunity.

The matter went on trial, because the accused first pleaded guilty, but then changed his plea to not guilty. While he ended up admitting to all the evidence argued by the State and the defence, and was accordingly found guilty, the presiding officer remains uncertain about the main point of contention that was to be determined during the trial - that being at what point the accused had stopped stabbing the deceased.

This as the State witness, who had essentially caught the accused in the act, never saw Mahlanza stabbing his girlfriend, but found him bent over the deceased with the knife still in his hand.

Crime scene photos displayed a bloodbath. “One can clearly see that the room of the deceased is covered in blood. The floor is drenched in blood, also on the bed,” the magistrate said.

Zimkhitha Ntshisela (20) carried her family’s hopes of a better futureBehavioural problems no excuse
Pre-sentencing reports from two probation officers indicate the accused had long-term behavioural problems, specifically aggression. These changes in behaviour reportedly started when he returned from initiation school in December 2015 and worsened after the death of his maternal grandmother.

The family reported the accused had started showing signs of depression, anger outbursts, long periods of sadness, severe headaches, trust issues and a fear of losing people.

This reportedly escalated to a point at which he assaulted his own family members, including his mother, by throttling her.

However, when his family offered to get him assistance, he turned it down. This refusal to co-operate would ultimately contribute towards the court being unable to find substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment.

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