GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - A Nekkies man who has admitted to killing his live-in girlfriend Ntonbizodwa Mei (36) in April this year and then trying to hide her body by dumping it in a pit toilet, has pleaded guilty to a charge of murder in the George Circuit High Court.
Sandiso Faku, who appeared before Judge Andre le Grange on Tuesday 14 October, also pleaded guilty to a charge of defeating and obstructing the administration of justice.
Throughout their relationship, Faku verbally, physically and emotionally abused Mei, according to a summary of facts submitted to the court.
On 27 November 2024, Mei obtained an interim protection order against Faku in the Knysna Magistrate's Court in terms of the Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998, but she withdrew it on 11 December 2024.
In a statement Faku made to the court in terms of Section 112(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act, he admitted that when he slapped and choked Mei, and thereafter hid the body in the toilet, he knew "at all relevant times" that his conduct was "wrongful and punishable".
Regret
He said he regretted committing the offences and requested the court to have mercy on him when passing sentence.
On 25 April, after an evening of socialising, Faku and Mei returned to his house at Nekkies.
Faku said there was an element of jealousy involved as he had become cross when an unknown man arrived at the house and he suspected Mei was cheating on him.
In his statement Faku said: "I admit that at some stage I became furious because the deceased started to bring up money issues, and I knew it was to get my attention away from her cheating".
He said as they were lying in bed next to each other, he slapped Mei through her face because she kept on denying that she was cheating.
He was not satisfied and got up, sat on top of Mei pinning down her arms with his knees, and choked her with his right hand. "I noticed that she was losing consciousness, spitting blood onto my T-shirt, and became still thereafter," he said.
"I panicked and went to the kitchen to fetch water and tried to resuscitate her, but it was too late. I realised that she was dead and there was nothing I could do to save her."
He rolled her body in blankets and dragged her to the outside toilet, where he put her upright on the toilet seat. When her body tipped over, he decided to throw her headfirst into the toilet, his statement said.
Lied
He said this was an attempt to hide the body and to distance himself from it.
When family members of Mei came looking for her on 26 April, he lied and told them that she had left for work.
Faku said the family received a tip-off from a witness on 27 April, who told them the whereabouts of the Mei's body, and that was how the police discovered her body in the toilet.
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