Self-confessed killer Flavio Hlabangwane handed life sentence
Flavio Hlabangwane has been handed a life sentence for the murder of his lover and relative Tshepang Pitse.
Hlabangwane was sentenced in the High Court in Johannesburg sitting in Palm Ridge on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old was arrested in November 2021 after his then-girlfriend alerted authorities to the grim discovery of human body parts in a freezer at Hlabangwane’s rented room in Soweto.
The convicted killer underwent psychiatric observation which found that he was fit to stand trial following at least two attempts at taking his own life.
Hlabangwane confessed to killing and then dismembering Pitse, adding he’d planned and researched how to carry out the crime.
"In his plea explanation, Hlabangwane told the court that an argument over his use of the deceased’s bank card without her permission ensued. He pushed Pitse, who hit the back of her head on the stove. She then charged toward Hlabangwane, who took out a knife and stabbed her several times.
"Upon realising that he had killed her, he tried to get rid of the evidence by dismembering the arms, legs, head, and torso and thereafter disposed of the head and torso at different locations but stored the limbs in his fridge," said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwana.
The court found him guilty of murder, violation of a body, and defeating the ends of justice.
“The brutal killing of women cannot be normalised, and as the NPA we will continue to advocate for stringent sentences against perpetrators of gender-based violence.”
Not all Pitse’s body parts had been found. Her family has pleaded for more information on where the rest of her remains are to allow them to find closure.
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