Life behind bars for dam murder

TWO of three young men who bludgeoned a Mthatha couple to death last year were sentenced yesterday to life in prison.

Mthatha High Court Deputy Judge President Zamani Nhlangulela a few months ago found Mkhululi Luwaca, 22, Bongani Dephana, 22, and Andiphile Mhlophe, 21, guilty of kidnapping, robbing and murdering Carl George and Jacqueline Miller with aggravating circumstances.

Dephana and Mhlophe were handed life imprisonment sentences for the murder of the young couple at a popular spot near Mthatha Dam last May.

Nhlangulela sentenced both to life imprisonment on each of two counts of murder, 15 years imprisonment for robbery, and two years each for two counts of kidnapping.

The sentences of life imprisonment were ordered to be treated as one and the sentences for robbery and kidnapping were ordered to run concurrently with the life sentences.

According to evidence presented in court, on May 9 2015 at about 5pm the couple, aged 20 and 19, were sitting in a car near Mthatha Dam when they were accosted by the three men armed with knives.

They demanded the car keys, cellphones and tablets and forced the young man into the boot.

They drove the car towards Tsolo forest but it gave mechanical problems and they returned to the dam, where they forced the couple to undress and threw them from a bridge into the water.

The three men were found in possession of the couple’s belongings, including a car radio and speakers.

During the trial, they claimed they were not responsible for the murders but admitted to taking belongings from the couple’s car, which they claimed they had found abandoned.

The duo, together with their accomplice Luwaca, 22, who committed suicide while in prison awaiting sentencing, again drove the car looking around for a mechanic to fix it but abandoned it after having removed the car radio with the speakers and the amplifier.

Luwaca was sentenced in June this year to 20 years in jail for rape in an unrelated matter. He committed suicide in prison in East London in October after he, Mhlophe and Dephana were convicted in the Mthatha Dam trial.

Judge Nhlangulela said the state had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the three KwaLink villagers were guilty of the crimes.

National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesman Luxolo Tyali said: “We as the NPA welcome the sentence with the hope that it brings closure to the families of the deceased.” —