Artist jailed for 18 years

MTHETHWA WAS FOUND GUILTY AFTER KILLING OF SEX WORKER Judge Goliath says sentence is message that violence against women won’t be tolerated.

Internationally acclaimed artist Zwelethu Mthethwa has been sentenced to 18 years behind bars for the 2013 murder of 23-year-old sex worker Nokuphila Kumalo. Sex workers cheered in the public gallery as Western Cape High Court Judge Patricia Goliath imposed more than the minimum sentence of 15 years in a bid to send a message that “violence against women will not be tolerated”.

Describing the murder as “horrific”, Goliath said Mthethwa had assaulted a defenceless woman, “that the attack was unprovoked” and the fact that she was a sex worker “had multiplied her vulnerability”.

Goliath said Mthethwa could be seen on CCTV footage that captured the attack in Ravenscraig Road, in Woodstock, on April 14, 2013, kicking his victim “more than 60 times”.

“Her liver was virtually torn in half.”

As a first time offender, Mthethwa faced a minimum sentence of 15 years, but Goliath said in this case the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors, and substantial and compelling circumstances could not be found to deviate from the minimum sentence.

In fact, she said, a more severe sentence was “manifestly just and fair”.

“With regard to the interests of society, we are experiencing high levels of violent crime against women and children. Where crime is prevalent in society, a severe sentence may be justified in order for it to act as a deterrent