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Police on the scene where Netshivangani’s lifeless body was found in May 2017. Matshikiri stabbed her 12 times. Photo: Limpopo SAPS.

Fifteen years for man who stabbed girlfriend 12 times

Date: 13 September 2019 By: Andries van Zyl

Women’s Month this year offered little cause for celebration with a spate of violent crimes committed against women and children across South Africa.

The murders of several women across South Africa during the month of August made national headlines. This included the murder of Denusha Witbooi, who was shot and killed in her vehicle by unknown gunmen, while Cape Town equestrian rider Meghan Cremer was found murdered and buried in a sand mine on a Philippi farm. Also in the Cape, Saadiqa Newman, a 26-year-old mother-to-be was shot eight times by gangsters while she was walking to a shop to buy electricity. Another victim of violence was the six-year-old Nathlia Pienaar who died after being hit in the head by a bullet while playing outside her home. Lynette Volschenk was another South African woman found brutally murdered. She was found chopped up in her apartment.

August also saw the death of South African boxing champion Leighandre Jegels, who was allegedly shot by her police-officer boyfriend. To really end August off on a tragic note was the news of the brutal rape and murder of 19-year-old University of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana, who disappeared on 24 August after going to collect a parcel at her local post office.

On the local front, August did bring some good news for the family and friends of murdered 26-year-old Ms Luambo Jennifer Netshivangani. On the morning of 3 May 2017, her lifeless body was found next to the railway line along the Schoemansdal road near Tshiozwi. She had been stabbed 12 times with a knife.

Shortly after the discovery of her body, the police arrested her 44-year-old boyfriend, Nkhumeleni Matshikiri, after he had handed himself over to the police for questioning. On 10 May of that year, he also made a written confession to stabbing Netshivangani to death.

What should have been an easy conviction for the State turned into a protracted trial, with Matshikiri changing his plea to not guilty, claiming that his initial written confession had been given under duress. The case ended up being somewhat of a trial within a trial, with the court having to decide over the legitimacy of the original confession.

On 31 July this year, the Louis Trichardt Regional Court found Matshikiri guilty of Netshivangani’s murder, allowing his original written confession into evidence. In his confession, Matshikiri stated that on 30 April 2017, he had accompanied Netshivangani to her home for the weekend. On the morning of 1 May, Netshivangani had told him that she was going to work in Louis Trichardt and Matshikiri went back to his kraal.

Matshikiri stated that later that same day, he realised that he still had Netshivangani’s house key and went back to her place at about 18:00. She was nowhere to be found. He then drove to Hamatsa (Nzhelele), where he had another girlfriend.

At about 13:00 on 2 May, Matshikiri stated, Netshivangani had phoned him. He then drove back to unlock her house since he had the key, picking her up along the way. “After a while, while we were in my motor vehicle, I asked her about her whereabouts the previous day. She did not give me a satisfactory answer and I became angry. It was then I drove my motor vehicle, together with her, towards Tshiozwi location next to the railway line, where I stabbed her to death,” reads Matshikiri’s confession. He added that after stabbing Netshivangani, he had left her next to the road, driven back to his residence and dumped the knife in an outside pit toilet.

Because murder is subject to a minimum sentence of 15 years for a first offender, Matshikiri’s sentencing was postponed for the completion of a pre-sentencing report. On 26 August he was back in court where he was sentenced to 15 years direct imprisonment, which is the maximum sentence that can be imposed on a first offender. He was also declared unfit to ever possess a firearm.

 

 
 
 

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

 
 

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