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Qhamani Nqayi admitted to the murders, which he committed during a break-in to steal their phones for drugs.
Picture: iStock
The Eastern Cape High Court in Bisho has thrashed a 29-year-old man to two life sentences for bludgeoning his grandparents to death with an axe in order to feed his drug addiction.
Qhamani Katana Nqayi, who entered into a plea deal with the state, was sentenced to 25 years for each count of murder, 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances and three years for housebreaking with intent to rob.
The court ordered some of the sentences to run concurrently.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said Nqayi admitted to murdering Mlungisi and Nomboniso Nqayi at the homestead they shared in Chatha, Keiskammahoek, in his plea explanation.
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He was with the elderly couple, his uncle and another two-year-old grandchild when there was a power outage due to loadshedding on the night of the double murder.
“They left the grandparents in the main house and went to sleep in their respective rooms outside. In the middle of the night, he broke into the main house to steal cellphones belonging to the couple,” Tyali said in a statement on 13 March.
“While inside the house, the grandparents woke up and saw him. He then decided to kill them with an axe,” he added.
Nqayi then stole his grandparents’ cellphones and took them to a known local drug dealer in exchange for drugs, which he smoked before returning home to sleep.
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His uncle, who is the couple’s son, made the gruesome discovery of his parents’ lifeless bodies the next morning, with their toddler granddaughter sitting next to them.
“The killer grandson was sitting next to his outside room, motionless, saying nothing. The uncle summoned relatives and community members, and a bloodied axe was found inside the house,” said Tyali.
Police were called, and Nqayi was arrested.
Despite Nqayi’s admissions, state advocate Nkululeko Mzinyati emphasised that both victims were elderly, unarmed and defenceless people who were supposed to be protected by their grandson.
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He added that offences motivated by drug addictions were prevalent and very serious.
Tyali said the NPA, in partnership with the South African Police Service, Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and Eastern Cape Department of Community Safety, “will be hosting an awareness imbizo in another village of Lower Gxulu in the same drug-infested small town of Keiskammahoek on 19 March 2025”.
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