A FATHER of five charged with the murder of his girlfriend who he stabbed 25 times on Reconciliation Day detailed events leading up to the murder in his guilty plea statement heard at the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
Mlamuli Qaba, 43, in his plea read out by his Legal Aid attorney Ashilka Ramdularay, confessed that even though he had been intoxicated, he was aware of his actions.
He said on the day of Zama Girlie Mthembu’s murder he had been at a braai with friends, socialising and drinking.
Mthembu and Qaba lived at the Kenville informal settlement, but in separate dwellings.
Qaba said he heard Mthembu’s voice coming from a shack he passed on the way home.
“I went inside to find her with two males and they were conversing. I asked to speak to her outside where we were arguing, and at that point, one of the males approached us and pointed his finger at me, reprimanding me for speaking harshly to Girlie. He pushed me and I fell to the ground.”
The State’s evidence is that during this argument, Qaba confronted Mthembu about the protection order she had obtained against him.
Qaba said he became angry and went home to get a knife, which he put into the waist of his pants.
“My intention was to go and confront this male about what had happened between us. While in my home, I saw Girlie walk past and I followed her. Once we were inside, she saw the knife and tried to reach for it. We struggled and I overpowered her, pushing her on to the floor. I pulled out the knife from my waist and began stabbing her on her chest and other parts of her body.”
He said when Mthembu became motionless, he left to go back to his shack.
“While on the way, I heard a woman screaming and I fled home to the Eastern Cape. When the police came for me, I showed them the knife.”
Magistrate Sharon Marks explained to Qaba that he faced the minimum prescribed sentence as per legislation in the form of the amended Domestic Violence Act under which his murder charge fell.
She said that the courts were only permitted to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence if substantial and compelling circumstances existed.
State prosecutor Tiyani Mabasa asked that the matter be postponed to next month for victim impact statements ahead of sentencing since there were children involved.
Qaba has five children.
“We will need a social worker’s report focusing on, but not limited to, all the affected children. They normally need about six weeks for this,” said Marks.
Qaba, who was arrested nearly three weeks after the murder, has been in custody since January after abandoning his bail application.
He was arrested midway through a ritual where he was topless and the murder weapon with him at the house of a traditional healer.
