A Pietermaritzburg vagrant was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment for the murder of a pensioner whom he robbed to buy drugs and alcohol.

Sanele Emmanuel Mbatha, 37, was sentenced in the Pietermaritzburg high court on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to killing Paul Alexander, 65, in Scottsville last month.

In his plea, seen by TimesLIVE, Mbatha said he left his home in January and has been living on the streets, where he started abusing drugs.

On October 19, Mbatha said he went to look for food in the bins outside a Scottsville supermarket as staff sometimes discarded food there. 

He said he found none. He said he was hungry and decided to walk along the road, past houses to see if there was one he could break into as he wanted to steal items and sell them for food and drugs.

While walking, he noticed there was no activity at Alexander's home and decided to break in.

He jumped into the yard and around the back found the door of the shed slightly open. He took a container of petrol and a Ryobi generator.

Mbatha said he lifted the main gate off its rails and pulled the generator to the Golden Horse Casino. There he hired a metered taxi to take him to the city centre where he sold the items for R2,000.

He said he paid the taxi driver R150, gave his mother R500 and used the rest to buy drugs and alcohol for his friends.

In the evening, Mbatha had no money left and decided to go back to Alexander’s house to steal more items so he could buy a drug called “rock”.

Mbatha said when he got to the house, he noticed that the lights were on and that it was possible people were inside. But he again jumped over the fence.

He saw Alexander in the dining room, talking on his cellphone and decided to enter the house and rob him.

He said the kitchen door was unlocked and the keys were hanging from the keyhole outside, so he entered. He found an iron pipe in the kitchen and struck Alexander once at the back of his head. The pensioner fell to the floor.

Mbatha took the cellphone and went to the bedroom where a person was asleep. There were three more phones on the headboard. He took them and ran.

He sold the four cellphones for R3,600.

A few days later he heard a police officer was looking for him.

Mbatha said he went to the police station, identified himself to the investigating officer and was arrested.

He was sentenced to 30 years for murder, 20 years for robbery with aggravated circumstances, five years for housebreaking with intent to steal and theft, and five years for housebreaking with intent to rob.

The sentences are to run concurrently.

TimesLIVE