Man sentenced to life imprisonment for brutally murdering girlfriend

The Clanwilliam Regional Court handed a Western Cape man a life sentence for the brutal murder of his girlfriend. The murder took place in the presence of her four-year-old daughter. Esethu Cawe used two knives to stab his girlfriend, Relebohile Ncephe, a total of 19 times.

GIRLFRIEND BUTCHERED IN FRONT OF DAUGHTER

The National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa (NPA) released a statement with the details of the incident. The Clanwilliam Regional Court sentenced the 26-year-old man to life imprisonment after he murdered his girlfriend by stabbing her 19 times using two knives. NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the knife broke “while butchering her in front of her minor child”.

LEGAL TEAM’S PLEA REJECTED BY STATE

Cawe wanted to enter into a plea and sentence agreement, with a proposed 18-year sentence offer from his legal team. However, the State rejected it because of the severity of the incident and its long-term traumatising impact on the deceased’s daughter, according to IOL.

STABBING: COURT HEARS THE GRUESOME DETAILS

Ntabazalila said the court heard that Cawe repeatedly called his girlfriend, after which she agreed to meet with him. Her sister and her daughter were with her. After they had talked for a while, Ncephe’s sister left so that they could talk privately.

“During the discussion, the accused asked the deceased about her whereabouts the previous weekend, got angry when he did not get the answers he wanted, grabbed a knife, and stabbed her until the knife broke. He grabbed a bigger knife and stabbed her until that knife also broke,” said Ntabazalila. The four-year-old child ran outside screaming after the stabbing of her mother.

As reported by capetownetc, the second knife was only removed from the deceased’s body during the post-mortem.

EFFECTS OF PARENTAL HOMICIDE ON CHILDREN

The National Library of Medicine states that “children who witness parental homicides are emotionally traumatised and deeply scarred”. These children often display unbearable symptoms. Stabbing incidents, for example, are very gruesome. However, because the attention is mostly focused on the deceased and on the perpetrator of the crime, children in these circumstances often become neglected victims.

A published academic paper by P. Mertin states that the “murder of a child’s mother in the context of domestic violence is a traumatic experience which results in multiple stresses affecting the child’s emotional, behavioural, and educational functioning”. These effects often become long-lasting and carry on into adulthood.

In addition to the psychological effects on children in these events, the incident also leads to external consequences that can further affect the child’s mental well-being. For example, these children are often moved to a different home, neighbourhood, and school, or placed into foster care.