Durban — A line had to be drawn and the only way to do this was to punish offenders accordingly in addressing the alarming crime statistics when it came to murder and sexual offences in the Inanda, Ntuzuma, and KwaMashu areas.
This is what magistrate Ravi Pillay said when he sentenced Ayanda Shezi in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court on Friday for the 2019 attempted murder and the 2021 murder of the mother of his five-year-old son whom he stabbed 22 times.
Vamisile Langa, 19, was killed while at the home of her new lover by Shezi. He stabbed her repeatedly and only stopped and fled when the new boyfriend came into the room armed with a bush knife.
This had been after he had kicked the door in and pulled out the Okapi knife he had in his pocket during the incident in July 2021.
In July 2019, Langa survived after Shezi had stabbed her repeatedly while she had been at her Inanda home hanging washing, also then he stopped stabbing her and fled when community members came to the scene.
A month before, the 24-year-old Shezi had broken Langa’s bedroom window while knocking on it and had tried to pry open a door at her family home; he had been trying to get to Langa whom he said was ignoring him.
He pleaded guilty to all these offences explaining that he had first consumed alcohol before committing them.
He also said that he had killed Langa in a fit of jealous rage as she had left him for another man.
Pillay said: “It goes without saying that the INK area has been getting the limelight for all the wrong reasons especially when it came to sexual offences, murders, and attempted murders.
“The alarming crime statistics always paint a grim picture of the district,” added Pillay.
He said alarm bells should have rung for Shezi when he damaged the property of Langa’s family home when it came to his actions in relation to consuming alcohol.
“The accused over a period of time not only committed one offence but three. Every accused has the ability to be rehabilitated. Whether he shows urgent conduct to be rehabilitated depends on his actions. The fact that he killed the deceased two years after attempting to murder her shows that he can’t be rehabilitated … If the accused had true remorse he would not have committed the murder after damaging her home and attempting to kill her by stabbing her several times.”
Pillay sentenced Shezi to six months for malicious damage to property and five years for attempted murder, the two sentences are to run concurrently. He sentenced him to 15 years’ imprisonment for Langa’s murder.
In aggravation of sentence, State prosecutor Kaystree Ramsamujh said the only reason Shezi pleaded guilty was that there was overwhelming evidence against him.
“He did not stop stabbing her of his own accord, but stopped because the boyfriend had come back armed and he fled leaving behind his shoe and the knife … The crime scene photo album depicts a gory and gruesome attack.”
WhatsApp your views on this story to 071 485 7995.
Daily News