A 31-year-old Walmer man has been sentenced to 35 years direct imprisonment for a string of crimes committed mostly in Summerstrand in Gqeberha, between 2013 and 2018.
One of the house robberies was committed in the Lorraine area of the Metro.
Police spokesperson, Colonel Priscilla Naidu, says Mnikeli Manzi was sentenced at the city's High Court on Thursday.
Colonel Naidu says his DNA linked him to the cases, including that of the May 2014 murder of 85-year-old Hazel Huggins, who was found tied up in the bedroom of a retirement village in Summerstrand.
The murder charge was, however, later reduced to one of culpable homicide.
She says Manzi was also convicted on six charges of housebreaking, five of kidnapping, seven of robbery with aggravating circumstances, one charge of housebreaking with intent to steal, and one charge of motor vehicle theft.
Colonel Naidu says he was sentenced to a total of 130 years imprisonment but will sit for an effective 35-years as a number of the sentences will run concurrently.
