Dad who killed intruder gets jail time

UNTIL May 20, 2016, Sifiso Majola had been an upstanding citizen.

But on that day, the draughtsman walked into his Waterfall house and found two people, Ndumiso Ndlovu and an accomplice, inside. The two were armed with a bush knife and another knife and attacked Majola. He disarmed Ndlovu, who was carrying the bush knife but his accomplice escaped.

What followed resulted in Majola being sentenced in the Durban High Court to eight years in prison.

Majola’s home had already been broken into more than eight times. He had laid charges and opened cases at the police station, which never resulted in any arrests.

Eventually the 40-year-old father of three was forced to move his family from their three-bedroom home to a oneroom house in Clermont.

Having overpowered Ndlovu, 23, Majola proceeded to use the bush knife to cut him 29 times.

He then put him in the boot of his car and left him at a nearby cemetery.

Judge Kate Pillay found Majola guilty of kidnapping and murder this week.

In mitigation of sentence, defence advocate Musa Chiliza argued that Majola should be given correctional supervision. He said Majola had spent two years in jail during the trial and his business had collapsed. His house in Waterfall was worthless because it had been vandalised.

State advocate Kelvin Singh said although he sympathised with Majola, he should spend time in jail.

He conceded that Ndlovu was not an ideal member of society but said nevertheless he had a child who would now be fatherless.

“We cannot allow lawlessness to prevail. Justice must prevail,” Singh argued.

In pronouncing sentence, the judge said the normal sentence for this type of case would be a minimum of 15 years, unless there were mitigating circumstances.

She acknowledged that Majola was angry and seemed to have “snapped” when he discovered the crime in progress. The number of cuts to Ndlovu’s body attested to this, she said.

She noted that people were losing faith in the police’s ability to catch criminals. This, however, did not mean the courts could allow citizens, no matter how aggrieved they were, to take the law into their own hands. Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, she said: “An eye-for-an-eye makes the world blind.”

The judge said a guilty plea would have shown Majola was remorseful. Pillay also noted Majola did not pose a danger to society. “I’m not satisfied the accused should spend a long time in jail. The two years he had spent in jail during the trial should be considered when he is up for parole.”

WE CANNOT ALLOW LAWLESSNESS TO PREVAIL. JUSTICE MUST PREVAIL. AN EYE-FOR-AN-EYE WILL LEAVE THE WHOLE WORLD BLIND