The Western Cape High Court is set to sentence convicted killer Siyabonga Mbotyi this week after he was found guilty of killing the mother of his child and mutilating her genitals after she failed to cook supper for him.
According to the State’s case, Nandipha Nthimkulu, 23, was killed on 25 October 2019 after an argument with her boyfriend. The couple had just welcomed their newborn baby and Nthimkulu was at home being visited by Mbotyi’s sisters when he arrived home.
He became angry when he realised she had not made food and killed her. Mbotyi, 34, pleaded not guilty, but the State produced a chilling confession he gave to police shortly after his arrest.
In the confession, he claims Nandipha was drunk and they skelled about his unwashed laundry, and when she shouted back at him, he choked her.
He told cops that in the struggle, Nthimkulu grabbed the blanket and the couple’s one-month-old baby fell off the bed but not even this stopped him.
Mbotyi says: “I choked her until she died. I then took a bottle kop and started to cut out her forehead. I also cut the ear of my girlfriend. I then cut her vagina with the bottle kop.”
But in court, Mbotyi denied being present on the night of the murder, saying he went to buy meat in Grabouw.
However, his sister Ntombembi Wayiza told the court the next morning he returned to the shack with dry blood on his hands and that she saw him throw a chips packet on the roof of the shack, which contained the mutilated body parts.
Mbotyi was found guilty on one count of murder and one count of mutilating a corpse.
The State has called for a life sentence, saying the murder had rocked the community and left a baby motherless.