Justice for June Wallis
The 81-year-old woman was found raped, murdered and robbed in St Mike's in 2010.
MAGISTRATE Nonesi Dlamini convicted Jabulani Freeman Mkhize (49) in the Port Shepstone Regional Court last Thursday of the murder, rape and robbery with aggravating circumstances, committed against Isobel June Wallis (81).
Mkhize, who is from Murchison, is expected to hear his fate on November 18. Mkhize is the second accused in the case where Mrs Wallis was found dead in the bush near Saints’ Walk in June 2010. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Six months after her death, Mkhize’s co-accused Mbongeni Abednego Maphumulo (30), from Gamalakhe, pleaded guilty and received life imprisonment for rape, 10 years for culpable homicide, and five years for robbery with aggravating circumstances. His sentences are running concurrently.
While handing down her judgement, Magistrate Dlamini explained that police had found the brown shoelace used as a belt by Mkhize to be exactly the same as the shoelace used to tie Mrs Wallis’s hands.
Under cross-examination, the accused said he had taken a shoelace from his boots (to commit the crime), but that the other shoelace had gone missing. Mkhize said he didn’t know his co-accused Maphumulo, and had only seen him from a distance. He also denied knowledge of the crime, saying he had ‘never done any cruel things’.
Magistrate Dlamini said Maphumulo had, from the outset, wanted to speak the truth. She said she found Maphumulo to be an impressive witness and found the evidence, as a whole, to be beyond reasonable doubt.
Maphumulo told the court before he was sentenced that he was on his way to visit a friend at St Michael’s beach on Friday, June 25, when he saw Mrs Wallis walking her dog.
He approached her and asked for a cigarette. When she said she had no cigarettes, he hit her with an open hand.
He informed the court that they had gagged Ms Wallis with her underwear and twisted her neck. They then took turns to rape her. He said she could not fight back because her hands were tied.
The men could not tell whether the victim was alive or dead at the time of the rape. The men then sold her watch and necklace for R150 and R120 respectively. They bought alcohol with the money.
