THABO Ntokozo Theodore Nzimande’s sentencing was adjourned again on Friday (September 25) at the Durban High Court due to broken prisoners’ lifts. 

The court will sit again on October 8 to determine Nzimande’s date of sentencing. 

Nzimande’s sentencing had been postponed on Wednesday (September 23) due to the broken elevators. 

Attempts on Friday to secure an alternative courtroom which would not require the use of prisoners’ lifts were unsuccessful. 

It is reported that due to security and safety concerns, inmates attending trial cannot be escorted via the stairs.

In July, Nzimande was found guilty of his grandmother, Beata Beatrice de Lange’s (80), murder in Pinetown in 2024.

Also read: Grandmother killer’s sentencing postponed to Friday

In the judgement, the court rejected Nzimande’s version that he does not know what happened on the night of the murder in the granny flat he shared with De Lange because he had smoked dagga and overdosed on prescription pills and had passed out. 

During trial, Nzimande had told the court that he only came to when the police had arrived at the scene of the crime. 

On Monday (September 21), the court heard sentencing arguments from the defence and the State, with the former arguing for a deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years, with half of whatever is eventually imposed converted to correctional supervision.

The State had argued for the court to consider handing down a sentence no less than 20 years.

De Lange was murdered in a granny flat she shared with Nzimande, which is located on the Pinetown property of her son-in-law. She was stabbed multiple times and her head decapitated.

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