Thursday, August 15, 2024 - A 23-year-old woman, Bongiwe Praise Magwaza, has been sentenced to 39 years imprisonment for the m8rder of her boyfriend, police sergeant Kgopotso Ntsana,36, in South Africa.
Magwaza was sentenced in the Johannesburg High Court on
Wednesday, 14 August 2024.
The sentences are as follows:
Count 1 Murder: 20 years
Count 2 Unlawful Possession of Firearm: 7 years
Count 3 Unlawful Possession of ammunition: 5 years
Count 4 Defeating the end of justice: 7 years
She was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
Ntsana was stationed at Elsburg police station, in
Germiston, City of Ekurhuleni when he was shot dead
by his cheating girlfriend.
Following an investigation by the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime team and insurmountable evidence presented at court, Magwaza was found guilty as charged on four counts, murder, possession of unlicensed firearm & ammunition and defeating the ends of justice. She was convicted on Monday, 01 July 2024.
The unyielding Hawks investigation has shed light on what
transpired on the fateful night Sergeant Ntsana lost his life.
According to Warrant Officer Thatohatsi Mavimbela, the
Gauteng spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, on
Friday, 02 December 2022, at about 22:30, the couple had an argument at their
shared residence in Leomakalapa next to Windmill Park Estate in Boksburg.
“The argument escalated to a scuffle which resulted in
Magwaza stabbing the deceased with a pair of scissors multiple times. Magwaza
then took the deceased’s firearm from where it was kept and shot him on his
head at point-blank range,” Mavimbela said.
She then placed the firearm next to the deceased in an
effort to make it seem like he had committed suicide. She left the residence
and spent a night at her other boyfriend’s place in Germiston. On her return to
the house the next day, she informed the neighbours that her boyfriend
apparently killed himself. Authorities were alerted and attended to the scene.
An inquest docket was registered at Dawn Park police station
pending preliminary investigation.
Blood spatter experts and photographers were called to
examine the scene. The crime scene reconstruction experts visited the scene on
Monday, December 5.
At that stage, Magwaza had been detained at Boksburg police
cells on charges of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH),
while the probe into the death of the police officer was ongoing.
Magwaza was detained after she indicated that she stabbed Ntsana, but denied killing him.
The case was not placed on the court roll on December 6,
2022, owing to insufficient evidence.
“Captain Sizwe Sibeko from the Hawks’ National Priority
Violent Crimes (NPVC), swiftly picked up Magwaza from the cells before she
could be let go. This followed a forensic factual report that ruled out suicide
as the cause of death due to inconsistencies discovered after the crime scene
was reconstructed," he said.
Magwaza was then charged with murder. She subsequently
appeared before the Boksburg Magistrates on December 7. The court eventually
granted her R1,000 bail in January 2023 following numerous appearances.
The bail was revoked on November 22, 2023, and she was
referred to Sterkfontein for mental evaluation after she started acting
erratic.
"The facility declared her fit to stand trial and she
has been in custody ever since, culminating in her recent sentencing
proceedings which started on Monday, August 12,” said Mavimbela.
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