Mandla Jerry Mahlangu (28) was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment on a charge of murder, for killing Kagiso Tshehla.

Mahlangu was convicted of murder by Middelburg Regional Court Magistrate Deon Minnie, after he attacked Kagiso and hit him repeatedly with a baseball bat.

The attack occurred on October 7, 2020.

Testimony of a fight that ensued between Mahlangu and Kagiso, allegedly over the removal of dagga plants that belonged to Mahlangu, was heard in court.

Mahlangu hit Kagiso numerous times on the head and chest with a baseball bat, and he later succumbed to his injuries at the Middelburg Provincial Hospital.

He told the court that he was acting in self-defence after Kagiso and his brother, Itumeleng Tshehla, followed him home.

Mahlangu said in court that he believed Kagiso was reaching for a weapon in his pocket, which prompted him to hit him with the bat to protect himself.

Minnie, however, was not convinced, “The accused agreed during his testimony that he was not scared when he approached the deceased at the gate, and that he did so while armed with the baseball bat, as the deceased had allegedly insulted his deceased mother. The assault on the deceased thus appears to have been executed in revenge.”