Man jailed for mom’s murder

On November 28, 2012, Sonwabile Zondi attacked his mother while she was asleep and strangled her to death.

His 93-year-old grandmother managed to escape unharmed. He set the house alight while his mother’s body was inside and fled the scene, police said.

Umzimkhulu police were alerted, and upon arrival they found a burnt house and the body, which was burnt beyond recognition.

A case of murder and arson was opened. Members worked tirelessly until he was tracked down and arrested on December 19, 2012, police said.

All the necessary evidence was carefully collected. He attended the court several times before he was convicted and sentenced on Tuesday, police added.

The KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner, Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni, commended Umzimkhulu Police Station members for the thorough investigation of the case.

“The sentence given to Sonwabile shows that our police members left no stone unturned in making sure that this heartless Sonwabile rot in jail,” said Ngobeni.

In a separate incident, a 14-year-old boy from the Waterworks informal settlement, south of Johannesburg, was arrested for allegedly strangling his mother to death in August last year.

It is alleged the boy confessed to his aunt in the evening after the woman had been killed.

The aunt said the boy had arrived at her house, 10km from the boy’s home, at about 10pm and told her the story.

He allegedly told his aunt: “I strangled my mother, and when I left, she wasn’t breathing.”

– Caxton News Service