Joburg man who set girlfriend alight given 20 years behind bars
Mpho Thobane will spend 20 years behind bars for the murder of his 32-year-old girlfriend.
The 29-year-old man was sentenced in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Thursday.
Thobane was found guilty of the brutal murder of Viwe Dalingozi in 2018.
Dalingozi succumbed to severe burn wounds at a Johannesburg hospital in November 2018 after Thobane doused her with petrol and set her alight in her flat.
On the fateful day, the couple was locked in a heated argument after Thobane spotted Dalingozi with her ex-lover.
Thobane waited for her to fall asleep, poured petrol over her and set her alight.
Spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Gauteng Phindi Mjondondwane says the family was at pains to explain to the court the psychological trauma and financial loss suffered by the family.
“The court said that gender-based violence was prevalent in South Africa and that society is dependent on our criminal justice system for protection.
“Magistrate Hombakazi Thwele also found factors such as that Dalingozi died at the hands of her lover, who was supposed to protect her and that she died at her place where she was supposed to feel safe, as aggravating enough to impose a sentence in excess of the minimum prescribed sentence of 15 years,” she adds.
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