Nelspruit deputy sheriff murdered: Man sentenced to life imprisonment

The man who shot and killed Nelspruit deputy sheriff Michelle Jones (31) and critically injured her partner Julio Cohen after a dispute over ownership of a house, was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday at the Mbombela High Court.

Mpumalanga National Prosecuting Authority’s spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said Jones was killed on October 20, 2022, after she had bought a house Hendry Dlamini (36) was occupying. A day before the murder, Jones and Cohen had gone to the house to change the locks when Dlamini arrived.

He banged on the door and told the couple that the house belonged to him and had been his mother’s home and that no one else would reside there. Dlamini threatened to kill them, and as a result, the pair applied for a protection order against him.

On the day of the murder, the couple had been parked near a shop in Nelsville when Dlamini saw them. He walked towards their vehicle and started shooting at them. Cohen was shot in his arm, while Jones suffered injuries to her neck, chest and abdomen.

Lowvelder previously reported that Dlamini had handed himself over at the Nelspruit Police Station on October 25, 2022.

Nyuswa said in court, Dlamini was denied bail and pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. During the trial, Dlamini elected to conduct his own defence.

“The state, presented by Adv Thulani Msibi, led evidence from several witnesses that proved there was a dispute over the house that was purchased by the deceased. Another witness’s testimony placed the accused at the scene of the crime,” said Nyuswa.

A photo album and ballistic report linking the accused with the crime were handed in. Their evidence was corroborated by the post-mortem report, which proved that the deceased’s cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds in the neck, chest and abdomen.”

The court found the evidence of the state witnesses credible, and Dlamini was found guilty as charged. Msibi argued that the court should not deviate from the ordained sentence of life imprisonment.

Before imposing this sentence, Judge Roelofse remarked that the accused had the intention to kill the deceased.

He said the accused had committed a serious crime against a defenceless woman, and that he had shown no remorse for his actions.