MAN SENTENCED FOR THE MURDER OF GIRLFRIEND
The Mthatha Regional Court has sentenced Sivuyile Tshuta (41), to 22 years imprisonment for the murder of his girlfriend during a night out. Tshuta entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the state, where he admitted to having shot and killed Zandile Ntonga (40), with his licensed firearm. According to his plea explanation, on the night of 17 September 2021, Tshuta, was fetched by his girlfriend from his home in her car. They then went for a braai and subsequently had something to drink in a form of liquor. On their way back, they quarrelled., and Tshuta drew out his firearm and shot her several times, thereby fatally injuring her.
In mitigation, the father of three, who is married to another woman, undertook that he would never commit such an offence again and took full responsibility for his actions claiming that liquor played a role in what he claimed to have been a spur-of-the-moment act. Senior State Adv. Mbulelo Nyendwana argued that the offence falls under bender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) which is not only prevalent in the court’s jurisdiction but the whole of South Africa. What made the offence worse is the fact that Tshuta, killed the defenceless woman inside her vehicle, Nyendwana added.
The court accepted the plea agreement and confirmed the sentence as agreed between the two parties.
