JOMO Mshangane Sithole (29) was sentenced to seven years imprisonment last week Monday at Palm Ridge High Court after he was found guilty of the murder of a man in May last year.
According to Capt Jethro Mtshali, Kempton Park SAPS spokesman, Sithole was arrested in July for a different crime after police found him in possession of dagga in Spartan. He was also charged with the murder as he had been the prime suspect in the case.
“The deceased stole a cell phone from a woman while at a night club on Pretoria Road where Sithole was also a patron. The woman is believed to have been the girlfriend of Sithole at the time and so Sithole went after the man,” said Mtshali.
Sithole assaulted the man with a blunt object and eventually stoned him to death. He then made an attempt to dump the body near the railway line close to Plane Road after trying to throw him onto the train tracks to make it seem as if he were run over by a train.
“Two homeless men witnessed this and alerted the police after the accused had run away from the scene. Det W/O Robert Motsai started his investigation of the murder case, which eventually led to the conviction.
With Sithole’s arrest in July last year for dagga possession, Motsai was able to link him to the murder case and after a marathon trial, Sithole eventually pleaded guilty and was handed a sentence of seven years,” said Mtshali.
