Convicted criminal gets life sentence for murder of mom on maternity leave
A convicted criminal has been given a life sentence for killing the mother of a one-month-old infant Kelly Bain, in her Port Elizabeth house while home on maternity leave.
A male suspect managed to escape while the female suspect was apprehended and handed over to the police for further investigations. Picture: iStock
Sizwe Jika, 28, was handed the maximum sentence in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Thursday, as well as 15 years for aggravated robbery, five years for theft, and 35 years for eight other burglaries committed between March and September 2018.
He was also sentenced a year for possessing illegal ammunition.
Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said Bain had confronted Jika after he entered her Shabani Road home in Brymore on 25 July 2018.
“He overpowered her and stabbed her multiple times before taking her engagement ring off her finger,” she said.
“While rummaging through the house, Jika was surprised by the appearance of Christopher Bonus, Bain’s fiancé, who had come home for lunch. A struggle ensued between both men and Jika managed to escape.”
Bain died at the scene.
According to the PE Express, Bain’s baby had been sleeping at the time.
Jika and another man had been arrested in September 2018 in the Charlo area when he couldn’t account for their presence in the burglary hotspot, the publication reported.
While his fingerprints were being verified at the police station, he jumped through an open window and escaped.
He was arrested the next month in Aliwal North.
Naidu said Jika is currently serving a 20-year sentence for the murder of Anne Smit, 86, who was killed in May 2018 at her house in Kamma Park.
“He is also serving a 16-year sentence for six housebreaking cases committed between January 2011 and July 2018 in the metro.”
He was sentenced for Smit’s murder and the burglaries in June.
His sentences will run concurrently with the life sentence.
“Jika is yet to appear in court for another murder which took place in May 2018 in Summerstrand where Anne Ferreira, 83, was found strangled and murdered,” Naidu said.
Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Liziwe Ntshinga said it was clear that Jika, “has no respect for human life” and had attacked vulnerable women.
“To commit such heinous crimes in a space of three months shows that he lacks emotion and is a heartless and ruthless criminal.”
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