BABONGILE Nkonyeni’s mother, Sibongile Shezi, lamented that Sikhumbuzo Zungu, who pleaded guilty to and was convicted for Nkonyeni’s murder, robbed her of her “precious child”.

This was contained in Shezi’s victim impact statement read at the Pinetown Regional Court by the State prosecutor on Tuesday (September 1) when Zungu appeared for sentencing proceedings. These had to be adjourned and set for September 17 after Zungu’s attorney encountered a personal emergency.

In her victim impact statement, Shezi said Nkonyeni and Zungu’s eight-year-old daughter was deeply traumatised by her mother’s murder and is not coping at home as well as at school. Shezi further stated that the child lives in fear that her father will come to take her life too.

Shezi said she is constantly seized by flashbacks to when she arrived at the murder scene and found her daughter lying in a pool of blood. These flashbacks, she explained, include the horrifying moment she was left alone with Nkonyeni’s body, which many of the family’s relatives could not stand to look at because of the grisly, bloody wounds inflicted by Zungu.

Shezi said she lives in a state of confusion and fails to understand what led to her daughter’s brutal murder. “I keep asking myself whether she struggled as he attacked her. I keep asking myself what happened, what did she do for her to deserve such brutality,” Shezi’s statement read.

The court heard that Zungu is known to Shezi because he had visited Nkonyeni’s homestead and expressed an intention to initiate lobola negotiations.

Shezi described Nkonyeni as an independent woman of integrity who was educated, was on the brink of opening her own business, and was very supportive of her family. She said she had worked hard to ensure that her child obtained a college education.

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At some moments as Shezi’s victim impact statement was read to the court, with an almost full gallery, starkly different to previous proceedings which were mostly attended by Nkonyeni’s family members, Zungu, a lone figure in the dock, hung his head.

The court heard that Shezi felt that Zungu, throughout the proceedings, had not shown any remorse.

“He robbed me of my precious child who gave me so much love everyday,” Shezi’s statement read.

She said she still wishes she could see her daughter walk through the door and has questions she hopes Zungu could answer.

Zungu has urged the court to consider sentencing him to 10 years’ imprisonment, with five of these suspended, for killing Nkonyeni last year.

In his statement in mitigation of sentence read to the court on the same day by his legal representative, Zungu said the substantial and compelling circumstances which would be sufficient for the court to hand him down a sentence lesser than life, the prescribed minimum for murder, include that he had assisted the investigating officer; had pleaded guilty and so saved the court’s time; is a first time offender with a clean criminal record; that he has five minor children; and because he is remorseful for his actions and had learned his lesson, which is evidenced by him joining a church group following his incarceration.

Zungu has remained behind bars since his arrest two days after the October 26, 2025 murder of Nkonyeni.

In his guilty plea statement, Zungu had told the court that he was angered by pictures of a naked man which Nkonyeni received on her phone on the morning of the murder and so stabbed her multiple times in the chest with a sharp object.

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