A taxi driver from Elliotdale in the Eastern Cape has been sentenced to 22-years imprisonment for killing his ex-girlfriend in December last year.
The 30-year-old Thando Misani was sentenced in the Mthatha Regional Court after entering a plea and sentence agreement with the State in which he admitted to stabbing 36-year-old Ntombikayise Fayindlala to death.
In his plea agreement, Misani told the court that Fayindlala, who worked as a traffic officer for the Department of Transport, had ended their two-year relationship.
He said they’d lived together in Elliotdale but that he moved out following their breakup.
The court heard that on the day of the murder, a security guard had chased Misani away from the block of flats where he’d lived with Fayindlala.
However, he returned with a knife, overpowered the security guard and fatally stabbed his former girlfriend in the neck and arm.
Senior State Advocate, Mbulelo Nyendwana, told the court that crimes of jealousy between romantic partners were very serious and prevalent across South Africa.
Magistrate Sizakele Sihlahla agreed but found that there were circumstantial and compelling factors that allowed a deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment.
