‘Masked man’ jailed
When he saw police cars approaching he turned the gun on himself.
JEALOUSY and betrayal led to a man wreaking terrible vengeance on his girlfriend and her alleged suitor, and have now cost him a prison sentence.
The night of terror in 2011 finally resulted in gunman Sibongiseni ‘Cerily’ Nyawose (40) receiving a 15-year jail sentence in the Port Shepstone Regional Court.
He was sentenced to another three years for being in possession of an unlicensed firearm and 12 months for the possession of ammunition. The charge of attempted murder was withdrawn due to the court being unable to trace two witnesses: Nyawose’s girlfriend and a security guard.
Sentences will run concurrently. During the course of the long trial, five witnesses died and another relocated.
Nyawose, from Murchison, fought for his life in a Durban hospital after he shot and killed a man before turning the gun on himself on November 17.
The shooting left his face disfigured and Nyawose, who testified in court with a scarf covering his face, was described by some as the ‘masked man’.
Nyawose killed Jubulani Sithole (32), an out-of-town contract worker staying at the nurses’ quarters at Murchison Hospital.
Drama unfolded when Nyawose and his girlfriend got into an argument. Apparently, Mr Sithole, together with some other men, went to Nyawose’s girlfriend’s shebeen to drink.
According to Nyawose’s admissions, when he arrived at the shebeen, he noticed there was a man ‘seated between her legs’. He then became enraged and jealous.
He punched, kicked and also hit her with a beer bottle. She was taken to Murchison Hospital for treatment.
Later that night he took a .303 rifle from his late father’s safe and went to Murchison Hospital where he climbed through a hole in the fence and entered the nursing quarters area, where temporary houses had been erected for contract workers.
It is there that he shot and killed Mr Sithole.
He then went to Murchison Hospital to look for his girlfriend, but couldn’t get in.
When Nyawose saw police cars approaching, he shot himself in the face.
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