[BREAKING NEWS] Three men sentenced to life imprisonment for killing Kinross police officer

Sydney Mashaba (44), Frans Mathibela (45) and Khayelile Welcome Ngubane (38) were sentenced to life imprisonment each and a further 20 years by the Evander Regional Court on Wednesday 12 July.

The three men were found guilty of the murder of a police officer and on 10 other charges, including car hijacking, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, theft of a vehicle, and robbery.

On 18 February an off duty police officer, Const Phumlani Nxumalo (44) who was stationed at Secunda ACCU, parked his vehicle next to the road in Ext 25 in Kinross when Mashaba, Mathibela and Ngubane approached him.

They ordered him to get out of his vehicle and when he tried to defend himself, was hit on the head with the butt of a firearm. and fell down.

He fell down.

The three men sped off with his vehicle before abandoning it in Duba Park in eMalahleni next to a tavern.

Const Nxumalo tried to get up and run for help, but succumbed to his injuries and died.

On 19 February this year the men hijacked a woman’s car after they took her into bushes where they undressed and left her before fleeing with her vehicle.

They also committed a robbery in Middelburg.

The men were arrested on 20 February and investigations positively linked them to the three cases.

They were denied bail and were in custody until they were sentenced.

The sentences were tabled as follows:

Count 1: For murderdering a police officer, all three accused were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Count 2: For car hijacking, two of the accused were sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment each.
Count 3: One accused was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment.