Cape Town – The Eastern Cape High Court sitting in Port St John’s has convicted and sentenced a former traffic officer to life imprisonment for murdering his girlfriend.
Fanele Nxuseka, 38, was sentenced to a further 12 years’ imprisonment for kidnapping.
Evidence before the court revealed that Nxuseka, a married man, was in an abusive relationship with the deceased who did not disclose she was on antiretroviral treatment (ARVs).
According to Luxolo Tyali, the provincial spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Nxuseka discovered that his girlfriend was HIV positive and believed she might have infected him and his wife.
On May 24, 2020, the court heard that Nxuseka went to his girlfriend’s home in Ngobozana, in Lusikisiki, and demanded she leave with him.
The woman left her cellphone with her sister and told her she might not come home alive.
When the deceased did not return, her family began searching for her. They found her body in the neighbouring Mmangweni Village. She had been shot multiple times.
Police arrested Nxuseka the next day.
Ballistic tests conducted on the cartridges found at the scene linked Nxuseka’s state-issued firearm to the crime.
Evidence presented to the court included the testimony of Nxuseka’s friend whom he confided in, telling him he had discovered his girlfriend was on ARVs.
Nxuseka chose not to testify in his defence.
The NPA welcomed the court’s decision.
Barry Madolo, Director of Public Prosecutions in the Eastern Cape, applauded the prosecution team and the investigating officer in ensuring that gender-based violence was punished, whether the culprit was a civilian or a law enforcement official.
IOL