18 years for senior official who killed his girlfriend
A SENIOR Bhisho government official who shot and killed his then 26-year-old girlfriend after spotting her with a 17-year old boy three years ago, has been handed a lengthy jail term.
Lelethu Ngqola was yesterday sentenced to an effective 18 years in jail by the Mdantsane Magistrate’s Court.
This after the court found him guilty of shooting and murdering his then girlfriend, Sisanda Maku, in a jealous rage in July 2013.
Maku and Ngqola had been dating for four months and she was visiting a friend in Sweetwaters outside King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape when she was murdered.
Maku had been working as a law enforcement officer at the Buffalo City Metro at the time of her death.
Maku, who was from King William’s Town, was shot with Ngqola’s licensed 38 special revolver while attending an initiation graduation ceremony at a friend’s house.
At the time, the Dispatch newspaper reported that Maku was dropped off at a hiking spot in King William’s Town by her father as she was meant to travel to East London.
She decided not to take the trip and instead attended the ceremony at a friend’s house. She was later called by Ngqola who asked for directions to the house she was at.
When Ngqola could not find his way to the house, Maku and her friend’s teenage brother looked for him as he was getting lost.
When they spotted him sitting in his car, Maku approached him, but Ngqola pulled out his gun and fired shots towards the young boy who then ran away.
Witnesses said when Maku tried to explain that the boy was just helping her to look for Ngqola, he then held her close, placed the gun to her head and fired the fatal shot.
He then loaded Maku into his car before speeding off to Grey Hospital. He also went to Maku’s West Bank home to inform her father that “she was involved in an accident”.
He was arrested while still waiting at the hospital later that same evening and was charged with murder and attempted murder.