MBOMBELA – A man accused of murdering, raping and sodomising his seven-year-old epileptic daughter on August 16, 2012, has been found guilty and sentenced for his evil acts.
The Pretoria Circuit of the High Court found Sonnyboy Phakimphi Mnisi of KaMhlushwa guilty of strangling his child, Ayanda Nokuvela Khoza, and raping her.
He was sentenced to 15 years for murder and three years each for both counts of rape. The sentences will run concurrently.
In his pleading statement, Mnisi pleaded guilty to strangling his daughter because he felt sorry for her because of her disorder.
“Watching my daughter suffer like that broke my heart. I felt sorry for her and decided to end her pain,” he explained. Mnisi also hit her head against the floor after which he said he fled to the mountains from where he called his mother to tell her what he had done.
“He denied any involvement in the raping and sodomising of the child.
Const Lucky Sabeka of Tonga police testified that he had received a call from the deceased’s aunt informing him of the murder.
When he arrived at the scene, he found people in the yard and was led to the accused’s bedroom where the body of the child was found. She was lying on her back, facing upwards, naked. Her mouth was covered with a T-shirt and her private parts were covered with her school uniform.
The accused’s sister, Ms Norma Prudence Mnisi told the court she had received a call from her mother at around 01:30. She told her daughter to go and check if everything was fine at the house as Sonnyboy had called her about the murder of the child.
Norma stated they had found the child dead in her brother’s bedroom and she called her sector manager and the police who immediately came to the scene.
She told the court that Ayanda’s mother had died many years ago and she lived with her grandmother. When asked about her brother’s relationship with the child, Norma said they had a good one.
The doctor who performed the post-mortem, Dr Jan G Maree, testified that the child died as a result of being choked or strangled and that was the reason why the tongue had protruded.
Maree further stated that the throat also showed signs thereof. He also confirmed that the child was raped and sodomised.
