Sentence delay for brutal killer

The planned sentencing yesterday of a Mdantsane taxi driver who was found guilty in May of killing his teenage girlfriend in June last year was postponed after a probation officer had to recuse herself from trial yesterday.

Sibabalwe Mgijimane, 23, appeared before regional magistrate Eugene Moss in the East London Magistrate’s Court to hear his fate after he was found guilty of killing his girlfriend, Awonke Diko, 19.

She was found dead and covered in a blanket inside his bedroom in June 2017.

The postmortem showed injuries to her head, lungs and womb.

A doctor’s report showed the teen was also assaulted prior her death, with visible scratches inside her mouth and bruises on her body and face.

Prosecutor Nomawethu Dlanjwa told court that a new probation officer would have to be found after the original officer recused herself saying she knew both the Mgijimane and Diko families.

Mgijimane has been in custody since his arrest in August, two months after Diko’s body was discovered.

During the trial, several witnesses who were with the couple at a tavern in NU11 a few hours before Diko was found dead testified to seeing Mgijimane slapping Diko in the face and insulting her in his minibus taxi.

Moss postponed the case to July 31. Sentencing is expected on August 20.