Zinhle Mapumulo
Zinhle Mapumulo
An emotional aunt of a Forest High School pupil who was stabbed to death by a fellow pupil stopped court proceedings yesterday demanding that she be heard.
Nkosana Mbele, 19, was stabbed to death by a 14-year-old pupil at the Johannesburg school last October.
The accused has pleaded guilty and was to be sentenced in the Johannesburg magistrate's court yesterday, but sentencing was postponed to next month.
While a social worker was testifying, Anna Nkabinde stood up in the court gallery and demanded to be heard.
Nkabinde said: "I have been listening to the social worker's testimony and I have never heard such lies in my whole life.
"These people have twisted the story around. My nephew is now the bad person while the child who killed him is an angel," Nkabinde said.
She said that before her nephew died, he wrote a letter stating that he was going to be killed for his kindness. His mother found the letter when she was cleaning his room.
"This clearly shows that my nephew knew that he was going to be killed."
Defence attorney Paul du Plessis said there is no doubt that the accused, who cannot be named because of his age, had committed a serious crime and deserves to be punished.
But he pleaded with the court not to send him to jail because he is a first-time offender and can be rehabilitated.
The state argued that killing is a crime and therefore the young accused deserves to go to jail.
The case was postponed to February 8 for sentencing.
tears for nephew
Zinhle Mapumulo
Zinhle Mapumulo
An emotional aunt of a Forest High School pupil who was stabbed to death by a fellow pupil stopped court proceedings yesterday demanding that she be heard.
Nkosana Mbele, 19, was stabbed to death by a 14-year-old pupil at the Johannesburg school last October.
The accused has pleaded guilty and was to be sentenced in the Johannesburg magistrate's court yesterday, but sentencing was postponed to next month.
While a social worker was testifying, Anna Nkabinde stood up in the court gallery and demanded to be heard.
Nkabinde said: "I have been listening to the social worker's testimony and I have never heard such lies in my whole life.
"These people have twisted the story around. My nephew is now the bad person while the child who killed him is an angel," Nkabinde said.
She said that before her nephew died, he wrote a letter stating that he was going to be killed for his kindness. His mother found the letter when she was cleaning his room.
"This clearly shows that my nephew knew that he was going to be killed."
Defence attorney Paul du Plessis said there is no doubt that the accused, who cannot be named because of his age, had committed a serious crime and deserves to be punished.
But he pleaded with the court not to send him to jail because he is a first-time offender and can be rehabilitated.
The state argued that killing is a crime and therefore the young accused deserves to go to jail.
The case was postponed to February 8 for sentencing.