A MEMBER of the SANDF has been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his lover and then setting her body on fire.

Kgollo Mofokeng, 39, pleaded guilty to murder last week and was then convicted for killing Patricia Musi in May last year.

Judge Margaret Victor yesterday sentenced him in the Vereeniging circuit court.

"The accused killed her in the most cruel manner," he said.

Mofokeng had accused Musi of infidelity before shooting her several times.

Mofokeng said in his confession statement before the court that he had sprayed Musi with a flammable insecticide before setting her alight.

He said he then pointed the gun at himself and pulled the trigger in an attempt to kill himself. He shot himself under the chin but did not die. He was taken to hospital by the police.

Judge Victor said Mofokeng had failed to be understanding towards Musi.

"She went out earlier and returned late in the afternoon and she was accused of seeing other men."

Victor said the post-mortem report revealed that Musi sustained at least 17 gunshot wounds and third degree burns.

"Her death was not a crime of passion where you found her in the arms of another man. You can't even point out the man whom you accused her of cheating with. You saw Musi as a person who should be punished in a brutal way."

Victor added that Mofokeng has a history of assaulting Musi because he had once stabbed her on the head and that there were allegations that he had attacked her with boiling water, burning her face and body.