Durban - A 36-year-old man who robbed and killed Pietermaritzburg home owner Paul Alexander because he needed money for food and drugs, has been jailed for an effective 30 years.
Sanele Emmanuel Mbatha, a father of two, was this week jailed by Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Piet Koen.
Mbatha was convicted on a count of murder, two counts of housebreaking and a count of robbery with intent to steal.
In his plea, Mbatha said he left his home in January 2022 and had been living on the streets abusing drugs.
On October 19, 2022, he said he went to look for food in the bins outside a supermarket in the Scottsville area.
In the plea handed to the court by attorney Advocate Amanda Hulley, Mbatha said he was unsuccessful in finding food.
He said he was hungry and had walked around the Scottsville area looking for a house he could break into it.
Mbatha said he wanted to steal items of value and sell them for food and drugs.
As he walked along Gallwey Drive he noticed there was no one home.
He jumped over the boundary wall and behind the house, found a shed with its door slightly open.
Mbatha said he pushed the door open and found a container of petrol and a Ryobi generator which he decided to steal and sell.
He was able to pull the generator out of the premises as it had wheels and handles and lifted the main gate off the rails to exit.
He walked to Golden Horse Casino and hired a metered taxi to transport him into the Pietermaritzburg CBD.
The taxi transported him to Retief Street in the CBD where he sold the items for R2 000 cash to a Nigerian citizen.
Mbatha said he paid the taxi driver R150 and gave his mother R500. He used the rest of the money for drugs and alcohol to share with his friends.
At 8pm that evening he was left with no money and decided to go back to the deceased’s house to steal more items.
Around 9pm he noticed the lights were on. Mbatha said he jumped over the fence and peeped through the window and saw the deceased sitting in the dining room, talking on his cellphone.
Mbatha said he entered the house through an unlocked kitchen door and found an iron pipe which he used to assault the deceased.
He then went into the bedroom and found someone lying in bed and saw three cellphones on the headboard which he stole and fled.
Mbatha said while fleeing he heard a woman screaming but he continued to run.
When he reached East Street he sold the four cellphones for R3 600 to a Nigerian.
A few days later he heard the police where looking for him and decided to hand himself over to police.
Mbatha said he confessed to the murder.
Alexander died on October 25 as a result of blunt force injuries, while in hospital.
Koen jailed Mbatha to five years for each housebreaking, 20 years for robbery and 30 years for murder.
All sentences will run concurrently.
According to a victim impact statement handed to the court by Senior State Advocate Candy Kander, the victim’s son Duane Alexander asked to be informed should any possible parole hearing be set at any time during the sentence.
“I would like to be able to give input in the decision with regards to a parole decision.”
IOL