An Mpumalanga man who killed his girlfriend in the presence of her two children because she refused to have sex with him has been jailed to an effective life term of imprisonment.
Vermando Vincent Chowe,44, was sentenced in the Mpumalanga High Court for the murder of his girlfriend Soneni Dudu Mashaba.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Chowe and the deceased were in an intimate relationship.
On December 7, 2022, in the Hazyview area, the couple were in their bedroom when an altercation erupted.
NPA spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said Chowe wanted to have sexual intercourse with the deceased, and Mashaba refused.
"He then left the bedroom and later returned with a knife which he sharpened during the day. He then attacked and stabbed Mashaba in the neck in front of her two small children."
The NPA said Chowe pleaded not guilty in court and showed no remorse and emotions for his actions.
The post-mortem results revealed Mashaba died from a deep penetrating gaping incised wound to the neck.
Nyuswa said during aggravation of sentencing the State argued that a strong message that gender-based violence and femicide are a scourge and will not be tolerated and that the courts must protect the dignity and freedom of all women.
The National Prosecuting Authority welcomed the sentence imposed on the accused during the 16 days of activism for no violence against women and children.
"Every successful prosecution is the culmination of months and even years of painstaking investigative and prosecutorial work and exemplifies hundreds of similar prosecuted successfully daily."
A recent report by the Human Research Science Council showed that over 44% of men said that they expected their partner to agree to have sex with them when they wanted to.
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