Murderer Flavio Hlabangwane has been sentenced to life for killing Tshepang Pitse.

Hlabangwane was also sentenced to 10 years for defeating the ends of justice and an additional 15 years for violating a corpse.

Palm Ridge magistrate's court judge Cassim Moosa said the sentences will run concurrently.

Moosa declared Hlabangwane unfit to possess a firearm.

Hlabangwane was arrested in November 2021 after body parts of his ex-girlfriend were discovered inside a fridge at his home in Soweto.

The discovery was made by his then new girlfriend, who alerted neighbours and the police.

He pleaded guilty to planning and killing Pitse and thereafter dismembering her body.

While Moosa was reading the judgment, Hlabangwane sat in the dock with leg chains on in a courtroom packed with Pitse's family and community members.

Pitse's uncle Edward said he was satisfied with the sentence.

"We are not going to get our child back but we are happy that justice has been served. If I got the opportunity to meet him, I will tell him how disappointed I am with what he did. I do not think he has any regrets or shows any remorse for what he did," said Edward.

He said he still wants Hlabangwane to tell the family where the rest of Pitse's body parts are.

"He should tell us why he killed her and where the torso is so that we can get closure," he said.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said the killing of women continues and it is only through life sentences that men will be deterred from committing the crime.

"More and more women die at the hands of men who are supposed to protect them. The NPA is up to the task to vigorously prosecute those who undermine the right to life and rule of law," said Mjonondwane.

kokam@sowetan.co.za