The sentencing of Nkanyiso Hadebe (27) who raped and murdered seven-year-old Emihle Vuyisile Nyawose of Mtwalume, has brought closure and relief to the little girl’s family and a number of Mthwalume residents.
On Wednesday last week, the Pietermaritzburg High Court sentenced Hadebe to three life sentences for murder and two counts of rape.
Hadebe was also facing kidnapping charges but they were withdrawn during his trial last Monday.
He admitted to raping Emihle twice before killing her. The incident happened on February 12 at the Nomakhanzane area in Mthwalume.
Detailing how the incident took place, Hadebe told the court that Emihle was his niece and lived near his home with her family, adding that he had consumed alcohol before going to Emihle’s homestead where she was with her grandmother.
He said Emihle’s grandmother had asked him to dig a pit toilet for her.
“I worked at the deceased’s home and the pick I was using broke. Her grandmother said she would ask her neighbour to lend her their pick. I asked her (grandmother) to please give me money to buy cigarettes whilst she spoke to her neighbour, and she gave me R10. I went to the shop to buy cigarettes and matches and the deceased followed me to buy airtime and two packets of chips for her mother,” he said, adding that after they were finished purchasing the goods from the tuck shop, he told Emihle to come with him to use another route back to her house.
This route went alongside the river and some bushes, he said, adding that he then raped her twice.
He said the child threatened to tell her grandmother.
“I got scared that she would report me and decided to kill her. I left her and went back to her grandmother’s house. Her grandmother asked if I saw her and I said I left her on the way back from the shop and did not know where she was,” he said.
Founder of Women of Mtwalume, Nombuso Sibisi said they welcome the sentencing and they are very pleased it with.
“Although the family is still trying to recover from this, they have admitted that this has brought a bit of closure and for us, our faith in the justice system has been, in a way, restored,” she said.
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