15 years for murder of line manager
A MAN who stabbed his line manager to death and wounded his supervisor over a wage dispute at the Cambridge abattoir on December 31 2015 has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Nathi Diamond, 31, was also sentenced to six years for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to his supervisor Mncedisi Nonqayi.
The sentences will run concurrently.
They were imposed yesterday in the East London Magistrate Court by magistrate Ignatius Kitching.
The trial began and ended yesterday after Diamond pleaded guilty to the charges.
The state called no witnesses except Fezile Ngalonkulu’s widow Primrose Ngalonkulu, who testified that she had been married to her husband for 41 years and they had five children together.
Her children had solely depended on their father for a living and their lives had now been turned upside down as a result of his death.
Diamond’s Legal Aid Board attorney, Mkhuseli Nosilela, told the court the accused was extremely remorseful, and as such had pleaded guilty so as not to waste the court’s time. He argued for a lenient sentence. “The accused lost his mother when he was very young.
“He was raised by his grandmother and grew up without parental guidance. He dropped out of school in Standard 9 due to financial problems,” Nosilela said.
“The accused has no previous record, he has three children and their mothers are not emp Nosilela said.
Prosecutor Bonginkosi Mafa said Diamond needed to pay for his crime as it was in the interest of Ngalonkulu’s widow, his children, society and justice.
Mafa said people went to work to do their jobs, not to be killed.
In his ruling Kitching said “if the courts don’t impose proper sentences for these kinds of crimes it can leave the impression that the lives of people are cheap”. —