Trial against man accused of wife’s murder set to begin

JUST months after Durban High Court Judge Thoba Poyo-dlwati sentenced Sisbusiso Bongekhaya Mvubu for the murder of his wife, the trial against yet another man charged with the alleged murder of his wife is set to begin today.

Poyo-dlwati, now Judge President of Kwazulu-natal, handed Mvubu a life sentence for the 2021 murder of his wife, Philisiwe Mvubu, whom he stabbed 13 times in their home.

Today, Judge Mohini Moodley is set to hear the trial against Sfiso Professor Ndlovu, 46, accused of killing his estranged wife Khulukazi Ndlovu, 39, and burning her inside her car in April 2020.

Khulukazi had been missing for days when her car was found burnt and abandoned in a cemetery in Molweni. Human remains were found inside the wreck, but the identity of the body was only confirmed six months later through DNA.

Her family had been unable to bury her because of the delay in confirming the identity of the burnt body.

Ndlovu was arrested nearly six months after the charred body of Khulukazi was found.

The couple who did not have any children lived in Phoenix.

She had moved out of their Phoenix home and was renting accommodation in the area at the time of her disappearance.

The trial had been expected to begin last year, but was adjourned to this year.

This had disappointed Khulukazi’s family, including her parents, who had travelled from the Eastern Cape.

At the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services revealed there had been 64 femicide cases finalised in KZN, of these 61 were guilty verdicts and three were not guilty verdicts.

Meanwhile, on Friday the National Prosecuting Authority welcomed the successful finalisation of a femicide case as the accused was sentenced in the Ladysmith Regional Court. Lungani Lloyd Hill, 46, was sentenced to 25 years in jail for the murder of his girlfriend, Thenjiwe Maphalala in Bergville, in 2018.