Teacher who killed wife jailed 15 years

MBABANE – A teacher who killed his wife after she refused to have sex with him has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

Shadrack Melusi Mkhonta, who was a teacher at Nkwene, killed Nozipho Mngometulu by stabbing her three times with a knife at Sithobelweni.

He was sentenced by Judge Mzwandile Fakudze, who found that the Crown successfully established intention in the form of dolus eventualis (awareness of the likely outcome of an action).

In his evidence in chief, Mkhonta informed the court that when his wife refused to have sexual intercourse with him, recordings of her past deeds began to cloud his mind.

During his trial, Mkhonta told the court that he was a teacher but was on suspension after he was charged with the crime of murder.

Marriage

When asked how his marriage with Nozipho was, he said it was rosy and at a later stage it became sour.

He informed the court that the sourness started in 2007, following that his wife (Nozipho) had refused to work in the fields after she had established a sewing business.

He submitted that at some point in time he received a call from her (wife) cousin telling him that Nozipho wanted to commit suicide following his (Mkhonta) insistence that she should work in the fields before going to her business.

It was further his evidence that at a later date, the deceased (Nozipho) told him about a workshop at Mpangeni which was to last for three days.

He alleged that a man called asking him to help Nozipho carry her suitcase to Siphofaneni where there was a bus to take them to the workshop. He said the wife eventually left for Mpangeni and came back.