Victim’s family welcome life sentence

THE family of murdered widow Venotha Ince has welcomed the life sentence handed down to her killer.

Radha Pillay, Ince’s sister, said she was satisfied that justice had been served, but this did not take away the trauma and grief that Ince’s brutal murder had caused them.

“We are happy that this turmoil is over,” she said.

On Friday, Pietermaritzburg High Court Acting Judge Piet Bezuidenhout sentenced 33-year-old Skhumbuso Enoch Mkhize to life in prison for the murder. Mkhize also received 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Judge Bezuidenhout said he could find no substantial or compelling circumstances to justify a sentence less than life, taking into account that Ince had been a defenceless woman who was attacked in the sanctity of her own home by a man she trusted.

Ince was stabbed to death on April 25 last year by Mkhize, a carpenter who was helping to renovate her home, and two other men identified as “Themba and Rasta”.

Ince, 51, was found lying dead in a pool of blood at the bedroom door of her Egret Road cottage, where she lived alone. She had been stabbed 14 times in the face, neck and chest.

Her cellphone was found in Mkhize’s possession.

In a confession that Mkhize made when arrested, he said he had held Ince down while she was being stabbed.

The judge remarked on the brutality of the crime and the fact that the murder had been motivated by greed.

Being led down to the cells, Mkhize said he was sorry for what he had done.