KaBokweni man sentenced to life for murder of woman by fire

The Mbombela High Court sentenced Ramoula Vernon Brown (45) to life imprisonment on March 5 for the premeditated murder of Precious Nomthandazo Mnguni (30). He had set her on fire on the morning of August 21, 2021.

The Mpumalanga National Prosecuting Authority’s spokesperson, Monica Nyuswa, said the murder had occurred early in the morning in KaBokweni. She said Brown and Mnguni had been in a relationship and had had a child together, but that after the two had broken up, Brown had started following her and assaulted her. It is unclear when this assault had taken place.

Mnguni successfully applied for a protection order against Brown. Some of the order’s conditions were that Brown was not to assault Mnguni or enter her homestead.

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On the day of Mnguni’s murder, Brown went to her homestead with a petrol canister. He waited for her to exit her home and attacked her, pouring petrol over her and forcing her to drink some of it before setting her alight.

Nyuswa said Mnguni’s mother had heard her scream. She ran outside to find Brown standing over her daughter. She grabbed Brown in an effort to protect her daughter, but was overpowered. Brown fled the scene, leaving Mnguni’s mother trying to extinguish the fire on her daughter’s body with water.

Mnguni was rushed to Themba Hospital, where she died.

Nyuswa said that in court, Brown had pleaded not guilty. Instead he gave contradictory evidence and made no mention of him setting Mnguni alight.

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Senior state advocate Thulani Msibi led evidence of Mnguni’s mother. Another witness testified that he had seen the accused holding the petrol canister days before the incident happened. He said the same canister he had seen the accused carrying was the one found on the crime scene.

The court was satisfied that the state’s case was proven beyond reasonable doubt, and the accused was found guilty as charged. Judge Vincent Takalani Ratshibvumo sentenced Brown to life imprisonment for murder and five years’ imprisonment for contravention of the Domestic Violence Act.

The court ordered the five-year sentence to run concurrently with the life sentence, the effective sentence being life. The court further declared the accused unfit to possess a firearm in terms of the Firearms Control Act.