A 47-year-old woman, Kedibone Lonia Nyathi, has been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment by the High Court of South Africa; Limpopo Division in Polokwane, after she pleaded guilty to killing her husband, Sandy Nyathi.
The accused was charged with murder. The charge relates to an incident of 03 December 2022, in Enable village in the district of Mopani.
The accused was previously charged alongside three young men who she had contracted to kill her husband. The erstwhile co-accused persons: Remember Surprise Malepe (19), Ethen Raganya(18) and Poopo Ventry Mabela (18) entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the state and they were expected to testify against the accused.
The accused were sentenced as follows: Malepe to an effective 10 years, Raganya and Mabela were sentenced to an effective 8 years each.
After their conviction and sentence, the trio became state witnesses and the case against Nyathi was separated. In an about turn, the accused (Nyathi) who had earlier indicated that she intended to plead not guilty changed her tune and negotiated a plea and sentenced agreement with the state.
Her plea and sentence agreement revealed that she contracted the former co-accused to kill her husband for a fee of R15 000, she further asked her accomplices to stage a hijacking by barricading the road where she will pass together with the deceased.
The accused was driving her vehicle pretending that she was accompanying her husband to work, on the other hand informing her accomplices to prepare themselves for killing. Before she reached the workplace, she then stopped the car and asked the deceased to remove objects which were thrown into the road.
The deceased alighted from the vehicle, and that’s when the deceased was stabbed to death by the former accused persons and one of the former co-accused pretended to attack her (Nyathi).
In mitigation, the defense submitted that there are substantial and compelling circumstances present in this matter because the accused was a first offender, she had shown true remorse by pleading guilty, she has a minor child, and she is suffering from two chronic illnesses.
In aggravation of the sentence, the senior state Advocate Nkhetheni Munyai submitted that this offense was committed out of greed since the investigations revealed that she (Nyathi) had several insurance policy payments that she was entitled to in the event of the deceased death.
Advocate Munyai further said that the suitable sentence, in this case, should be 25 years imprisonment. The acting judge Ngobeni found that the plea and sentence agreement was in the interests of justice and accordingly sentenced the accused to 25 years of direct imprisonment. The accused was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
The NPA welcomed the sentence, and the Director of Public Prosecutions, advocate Ivy Thenga commended both the State advocate Munyai and the investigation Officer, Detective Sergeant Sello Rony Maepa of Maake police station for building an insurmountable case against the accused which left her with no option but to plead guilty.
