Woman’s life of fear until killer convicted
NOMFUNDO Nduli was filled with mixed emotions when her ex-boyfriend was finally convicted in the Durban High Court for raping her and killing her friend. This was after years of struggling to get Dumisani Ndlovu behind bars for his abuse.
Nduli, who consented to being named, had opened several cases of assault, rape, kidnapping and theft against Ndlovu at the Inanda police station, but was never taken seriously.
The abuse continued even after she broke up with him. Ndlovu followed her around and sometimes stopped her from going to work.
He would forcefully take her to his house, where he raped her on several occasions.
Ndlovu, 31, was arrested in 2014 and charged with rape. However, even while awaiting trial behind bars in Westville Prison, he haunted her by sending her messages on Facebook.
In these messages, Ndlovu threatened to kill her and said she would forever be haunted by his spirit if he died in jail.
Overcome by fear, she dropped the rape charge. Little did she know that even after spending three months in prison, he still had plans to continue where he left off.
“I was getting constant threats posted on my Facebook page. Eventually I dropped the charges, thinking that once he was out he would leave me alone,” she said.
However, he attacked Nduli and took her cellphone on November 12, 2014. She opened a case at the Inanda police station.
Two days later, while walking near The Workshop shopping centre with a male friend, Thulani Shezi, who was escorting her to work because she feared Ndlovu would be waiting for her, Ndlovu attacked her with a knife and accused her of “walking with a man in front of him”.
He stabbed her twice below the left breast and on the arm before turning the knife on Shezi, fatally wounding him.
During the judgment last week, Nduli wept in court.
“Throughout the trial I prayed that the court would find him guilty and punish him harshly for killing an innocent man who was trying to protect me,” she said. “I prayed for justice.”
She attributed Ndlovu’s conviction to the swift work of Detective Warrant Officer Sivan Naidoo from the Durban central police station, who was assigned to the case after Shezi’s murder.