Child murderer: It was pure rage

Update

GEORGE NEWS - The first stab was allegedly by accident as the child got in the way, the other 27 were pure rage.

This was heard during the testimony of Zipho Nqoko (24) in the George Circuit High Court on Monday, 7 November.

Nqoko, a former security guard, was found guilty of kidnapping and brutally murdering a young boy, Imange Jantjies (8), after a domestic altercation with the boy's mother in August last year. Read her testimony here.

During his testimony on Monday morning, Nqoko told the court that he stabbed the child the first time when he and the child's mother's cousin, Shaun Jantjies, got into a fight in his shack in Zone 7.

According to Nqoko's version in court, the child allegedly jumped up and told him not to stab Jantjies and he accidentally stabbed the child.

He testified that Jantjies ran away while the child continued to hold on to his [Nqoko's] leg.

He said he could not get the child off him and out of anger, he stabbed him repeatedly and ran out of his house in pursuit of Jantjies. He could not find Jantjies and returned to his shack, locked it and made his way to the police station.

On his way there he ran into the person on whose property his shack was. He said he gave him the keys to the shack and told him that he "had done something big".

Thereafter he went to Zone 9 and told one of his family friends that he "had done something big" and that he would be arrested by the police.

Little Imange, a boy of 25kg and barely taller than a metre, sustained at least 28 stab wounds to his neck and the question on everyone's mind in court, was: How can a trained adult security guard not be able to remove a child from his leg without having to stab him to death?

There was no fight

In his testimony last week, Shaun Jantjies denied that he was in any manner involved in a fight with the accused at his home in the presence of the deceased. According to him, he only arrived at Nqoko's home once police were present and had cordoned off the crime scene.

He said he was told that Nqoko took Imange earlier that day, but he was not witness to this.

Murdered for revenge

During cross-examination, state prosecutor Adv Lenro Badenhorst put it to Nqoko that he murdered Imange out of spite after the child's mother threatened to leave him.

He put it to Nqoko that Imange only weighed 25kg and that he could have pushed him away or hit him in the face if he wanted the child to let go of his leg, but instead it was his direct intention to kill the child to get back at his mother.

A mother's worst nightmare

During her testimony, Imange's mother, Annelisiwe Jantjies, said that she did tell Nqoko that she wants to leave him and he threatened to murder her son or her mother.

She told the court that Nqoko left after the altercation and shortly afterwards she realised that Imange was also gone. She immediately started looking for him and went to the police station to report her missing child.

While she was there, Nqoko also arrived at the police station.

She testified that when she asked him about her child, he said he killed him.

The boy's body was later discovered by police in Nqoko's shack and he was arrested shortly afterwards.

Imange Jantjies was eight years old when he was brutally murdered in a fit of rage by his mother's then partner, Zipho Nqoko.

Judgement

During judgement Judge Derek Wille said the evidence of the prosecution's witnesses was reliable and credible. He said that Nqoko's version of events was inherently improbable together with the sudden "selective memory" when he testified.

"The accused offered up a number of different versions. A number of these were offered up for the first time when he testified and also during cross-examination when the shoe pinched.

"The different versions of events, as contended by the accused, are highly improbable and are clearly an 'after-the-fact' attempt at tailoring his evidence in an attempt to explain his actions. The accused could not explain how he inflicted no less than 28 stab wounds to the body of the deceased. And in crucial issues he either said he did not know or he couldn't remember.

His versions of events are far-fetched and highly improbable. Also, in applying the cardinal rules of logic in connection with inferential reasoning, the evidence is so overwhelming against the accused that he simply has been left with no avenue of escape."

Sentencing

Sentencing procedures started on Wednesday morning and continues today. The latest on this story will be available at www.georgeherald.com on completion of sentencing.

Nqoko being taken to court during the trial. Photo: Kristy Kolberg