Man gets life sentence for strangling ex-girlfriend to death

A man who admitted to strangling his ex-girlfriend to death at the hospital where she worked as an intern doctor, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday.

Ntiyiso Xilumane, 26, from Matsotsosela in Giyani, was handed the sentence in the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane.

Dr Shongile Pretty Nkhwashu’s body was found in her room at Mankweng hospital on the evening of 19 January 2020.

Xilumane was a student at the University of Limpopo and had a son with Nkhwashu.

“At the time of the incident, the intern doctor was no longer his girlfriend. It was the evidence of the State that the deceased had ended the relationship,” National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said.

Nkhwashu sent Xilumane a text on 15 January 2020, in which she ended their relationship.

On 17 January, Xilumane travelled from his village in Giyani to the Mankweng Hospital where Nkhwashu worked.

He admitted to grabbing her by the throat and throwing her on a bed.

Nkhwashu’s father, Kenneth, also told the court that Xilumane used to assault his daughter. He told the court his daughter had sent him a picture of herself with a swollen face.

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