A 35-year-old man who stabbed and stoned his grandmother to death has been found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa (NPA) Mashudu Malabi-Dzhani said on 21 August 2015 the accused, saw the old lady heading to a nearby bush to collect firewood with her five-year-old granddaughter.
He allegedly followed them whilst armed with a panga, he then hit the deceased with a brick and chopped her with a panga several times before she fell down and died at the scene.
She sustained injuries on the head, shoulder, spine and ribs.
William Lebogo pleaded guilty to the charges, in his plea, he mentioned that he was angry that the grandmother was bewitching his family by performing her rituals next to their gate and she is also the cause of death to her mother.
The court rejected his version and found him guilty.
The State Prosecutor, Advocate Nozizwe Molepo submitted that the murder was premeditated and was made worse by the fact that, it was a gruesome attack on a vulnerable elderly person who was defenceless.
Molepo emphasized that the deceased was attacked in her sanctuary where she least expected to be attacked.
The court found that there was no substantial and compelling circumstance to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment.
