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Durban pensioner sentenced to 35 years for killing girlfriend and child with bush knife

Suthentira Govender Senior reporter
The Durban high court has sentenced a 62-year-old man to 35 years behind bars for murdering his girlfriend and their child with a bush knife. Stock photo.
The Durban high court has sentenced a 62-year-old man to 35 years behind bars for murdering his girlfriend and their child with a bush knife. Stock photo.
Image: 123RF/STOCK STUDIO44

A Durban pensioner has been sentenced to 35 years behind bars for the brutal murder of his girlfriend and their three-year-old child, who both succumbed to their injuries after being attacked with a bush knife.

The Durban high court imposed the sentence on 62-year-old Thembinkosi Ngcobo after he pleaded guilty to the murder of his girlfriend, Ntombifuthi Blose, 30, and their child Minenhle Blose, which took place in September 2020 in Phoenix, north of the city.

According to his plea, Ngcobo had been in a relationship with Blose since 2016. At the time, he lived and worked in Pietermaritzburg and she visited him regularly. Their child, Minenhle was born in 2017.

In 2020 Ngcobo was transferred to work in Durban and lived in Phoenix, where Blose continued to visit him.

In September last year they decided to move in together and she told him that she was going to fetch her clothes from where she had been staying. She later returned, saying that her ex-boyfriend had refused to allow her to take her belongings. 

The next day, while Blose was fetching her clothes, Ngcobo received a phone call from her ex-boyfriend telling him that she was HIV-positive.

She returned to their home and they went to sleep.

Ngcobo said in his plea that he was overwhelmed by anger and emotions and reached for a bush knife that was in a bag.

Blose suffered several wounds to her body, while the child also suffered injuries as she clung to her mother during the attack.

Ngcobo fled after he heard the neighbours shout that they were calling the police. He ran towards the N2 freeway, where he wanted to commit suicide, but returned to the house, where he was arrested.

Natasha Kara, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority in KwaZulu-Natal, said Ngcobo was given 20 years for Blose's murder and 15 years for the death of the child, which are to run concurrently.

TimesLIVE

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