Justice swiftly served

Just three months after murdering a woman and stabbing her daughter, three men were finally convicted for murder on October 8.
Thandisizwe Mafuna (29), Smamkele Fodo (20) and Mazwi Ntongola (27) were all sentenced to 25 years in prison after they were found guilty of murdering a 38-year-old woman in the Compensation railway tunnel on July 13.
The three were officially charged on three counts – murder, robbery with a firearm and knife and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. They were given 10 years for murder and 15 years for robbery and assault.
The men stole cash and a cellphone from the woman before attacking the woman and her child.
The 38-year old died in hospital from her wounds and the daughter was later released after recovering from her injuries.
Umhlali SAPS Detective Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jacky Papaya, commended the combined effort of all those involved.
“I am pleased that justice has been served. The whole team worked together swiftly and effectively to take these men down,” she said.
“It was a really sad story as the woman was using her life-savings to send her daughter to school in the Eastern Cape,” she revealed. They were on their way to the train station as the daughter was leaving for the Eastern Cape.
Her detectives worked tirelessly on the case and often worked 24 hours at a time to apprehend the suspects. They were able to track down the murderers by tracing the stolen phone to a person who had bought the cell phone from the suspects.
They were arrested on August 20 thanks to the information they had obtained.
Lieutenant Colonel Papaya was amazed at the short time it took to convict the criminals considering the amount of work that had to be done.