The emotional testimony of a broken mother whose young son was brutally murdered last year, was heard in the George Circuit High Court at the start of the trial on Tuesday.

Annelisiwe Jantjies (25) lost her eight-year-old son, Imange, on August 19, 2021 – allegedly at the hands of her then partner, Zipho Nqoko (24).

During her testimony the court heard there was a domestic altercation between the couple when the accused returned from working night shift. The accused was employed as a security guard at that stage.

Jantjies slept at her aunt’s house in Thembalethu the night before her son was killed. When she woke up the next morning the house was covered in water due to flooding.

The court heard that later that morning (August 19, 2021) at about 07:30, while she was cleaning and drying the house, the accused arrived back from work and demanded that she accompany him to his shack. She declined as she was cleaning.

The accused left but returned later that afternoon again demanding that she go with him.

When she refused, he threatened her with a knife saying he would kill her mother or her son. She then told the accused that she wanted to break up with him and he left.

A while later she realised that her son, who had been playing outside with friends, had disappeared.

She started searching for him and testified that one of Imange’s friends told her that he had left with the accused.

At about 18:30 the same evening, the accused arrived without her son. “I asked him where my child was and he said he had killed him,” Jantjies testified.

She then went to the Thembalethu Police Station and the boy’s body was later discovered by police in Nqoko’s shack which was situated on a friend’s property. The child had multiple stab wounds. Nqoko was arrested shortly afterwards and has been in custody since.

The case was previously postponed for the accused’s legal representative to consult with him before Jantjies could be cross-examined.

The trial serves in front of Judge Derek Wille.

Advocate Lenro Badenhorst acts for the state and the accused is represented by Legal Aid SA. The trial is set to continue until November 11.