A man who used two knives to butcher his girlfriend more than a dozen times has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
The Clanwilliam Regional Court in the Western Cape has sentenced Esethu Cawe after he stabbed his girlfriend, Relebohile Ncephe, 19 times using two knives which broke while butchering her in front of her minor child.
Esethu was also convicted for the breach of a protection order that was issued on 26 July 2022, where he was prohibited from assaulting, threatening, or verbally abusing Relebohile.
This sentence follows the State’s rejection of a plea and sentencing agreement with a proposed 18-year sentence offer from the accused and his legal team.
The State rejected the offer based on the severity of the case and its long-term traumatizing impact on the deceased’s minor child.
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The State believed Relebohile’s death was a result of extreme violence and physical abuse.
Regional court prosecutor Mark Taylor told the court that the couple were cohabiting partners in an intimate relationship.
When domestic violence started to occur, Relebohile moved to her sister’s house and obtained an interim protection order which was served to Esethu.
“On the day of the incident, 22 August 2022, Esethu repeatedly called Relebohile after which she agreed to meet with him in the presence of her sister. Her four-year-old daughter also accompanied her. They started talking and the sister left to give them space to talk privately.
“During the discussion, Esethu asked Relebohile about her whereabouts the previous weekend, got angry when he did not get the answers he wanted, grabbed a knife, and stabbed her until the knife broke.
“He grabbed a bigger knife and stabbed her until that knife also broke. He left that knife on her body and was only taken out during a postmortem. This repeated stabbing happened in front of her 4-year-old child who ran outside screaming.”
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In his plea statement, Esethu admitted that the protection order was still in operation at the time of entering Relebohile’s residency and killing her.
“The convictions related to cold-blooded, callous, and heinous conduct on the part of [Esethu]. It displayed an absolute flagrant disregard for the sanctity of human life and complete disrespect for the law and this court.
“His conduct involved a wanton disregard for the victim and a single-minded resolve on his part to commit the crimes. The conclusion is fortified by the fact that he set upon the deceased in a vicious, brutal, and unrelenting manner.”
The stabbing happened four days after a protection order against Esethu was extended and was to be confirmed on 8 September 2022.
