A relative has pleaded guilty to brutally stabbing five family members, including two minor children and his disabled sister, in Bergville, KZN, in October.

Mlamuli Khoza appeared in the Pietermaritzburg High Court last week where he was sentenced to five terms of life imprisonment by Judge Carol Sibiya.

According to an article published by The Witness, the 28-year-old pleaded guilty to stabbing his aunt, Sonto Hadebe, his sister Thulisile Hadebe, his nieces, Esihle and Andile Khoza, and his uncle Bheki Hadebe at their homestead.

According to the court papers, Khoza and his mother, Nonhlanhla Hadebe, had an acrimonious relationship as he believed his mother had bewitched him.

On Saturday, October 12, the accused arrived home in the early evening. At the time, several of his family members, amongst them his mother, were seated together in the homestead watching television.

“Upon his entry into the house, the mother of the accused offered him food. The accused became enraged, he proceeded to the kitchen and returned with a knife which he used to stab all family members that had been seated in the living room.”

The family members were all stabbed multiple times and they all died at the scene.

According to the prosecutor, advocate Zinhle Sokhela, the two-year-old was cut in the stomach and her intestines were protruding, while the accused’s sister, who was disabled, had to watch the tragic ordeal as she was unable to talk or walk.

Judge Sibiya in her sentencing said: “Giving a sentence in a crime that involves women, children and people with disabilities is often 100 times harder. The sad reality is that no sentence can ever bring back the deceased.

“The post mortems of all the deceased made it clear that the accused had no mercy. Even the family members said they don’t want to ever see him again,” she said.

The family, reacting to the sentence, said they will never forgive him and they are glad he will be behind bars.

“We feel relieved and happy that he was given a harsh sentence and we hope that it will serve as a lesson to other like-minded criminals. We will not forgive him, he has caused a lot of damage in the family – the entire family has been left traumatised by his actions before and after the gruesome deaths,” said Casper Hadebe, who is Khoza’s uncle.