The suspect who was arrested for various other crimes including the stabbing of Ms Heleen Jansen van Rensburg last year was sentenced to 15 years.
On August 21, the suspect arrested for stabbing Jansen van Rensburg 12 times last year appeared in the Regional Court at Witbank Magistrates Court.
There were tense moments in the court room as the sentenced was laid down to Siyabonga Velile Cele.
A decision was made to combine all the other cases together that Siyabonga was arrested for and the sentenced was based on that.
He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
“It is not something easy to go through, but at least he is behind bars and he can’t hurt me or my children,” said Jansen van Rensburg.
The Jansen van Rensburg family take every day one at a time as you never know what will happen.
“I know the police did their work and I thought that he could get a few more years, but that is not my decision,” said Jansen van Rensburg.
Within five months from the brutal stabbing of Jansen van Rensburg, Siyabonga was arrested.
Warrant Officer Bongi Malepe from Witbank Detective Branch followed strong leads and managed to match fingerprints successfully and he arrested Siyabonga.
Siyabonga had previously been arrested and Malape was looking for him, he knew he was to appear in Witbank Magistrate Court on March 2 for cases of theft.
Malepe sat in court and waited for Siyabonga to appear on stand. Once he had appeared on the stand for the case of theft, Malepe then arrested him for attempted murder.
On Thursday, October 30 2014 at 13:15 three children were at home with their mother Jansen van Rensburg in the quiet suburb of Model Park.
Jansen van Rensburg (36) was busy in her house in Susanna Street, when her son said he heard a noise inside.
When Jansen van Rensburg went to check on the noise, she walked down to the main bedroom to find the Siyabonga already in the room.
He managed to break a window and had climbed through the burglar proofing. The man threatened Jansen van Rensburg and told her that he was going to kill her.
Jansen van Rensburg fought back, but the suspect stabbed her 12 times all over her body and he also scratched her with the knife.
“During this time, my three children came running from the lounge to see what all the noise was about. My wife kept pushing them out of the way so that they did not get injured as well,” said Mr Johan Jansen van Rensburg.
Before Siyabonga left the house he grabbed two cell phones, a watch and locked Jansen van Rensburg in the main bedroom.
Bleeding profusely from her 12 stab wounds Jansen van Rensburg was left in her bedroom.
The oldest son managed to unlock the bedroom door and the panic button was pressed twice.
Eventually a car stopped and two women jumped out to help.
One woman started working on Jansen van Rensburg to stop the bleeding, while another phoned the police and the ambulance.
The ambulance arrived on scene and Jansen van Rensburg was taken to Life Cosmos Hospital.
She was taken into theatre that evening, where doctors stitched her up and a drainage pipe was inserted into her right lung as it was punctured by the knife.
