A 35-year-old man, Bantubenkosi Siqotyana, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of his girlfriend in South Africa.

The Eastern Cape High Court sitting in Mthatha, sentenced Siqotyana on Wednesday, August 28, 2024.

He was found guilty of killing his girlfriend, Nombeko Thobigunya in December 2023.

The court heard that Siqotyana cut his girlfriend’s body into pieces and threw the parts into multiple pit toilets to conceal the crime of murder.

Explaining the case, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said Thobigunya was reported missing by her family on December 13, 2023.

“She had last been seen in the company of Siqotyana 12 days earlier. A human hand was discovered being eaten by a dog in the village of Thembeni in Zandukwana area of the District of Libode," Thobigunya said.

“The deceased’s friend identified the hand with nail polish she had applied with her before her disappearance, and that led community members to the boyfriend, Siqotyana.”

Tyali said the accused was severely assaulted by the community, before he led them to the different locations where he had dumped the pieces.

“Police were summoned and the accused made admissions and pointed out the remains at multiple pit toilets in the location.”

The NPA said at the start of the trial, Siqotyana pleaded not guilty to murder and defeating the ends of justice.

“But (he) pleaded guilty to the charge of violating a corpse. He claimed that the deceased had died due to food poisoning, but he decided to cut the dead body into pieces because he feared the community would believe that he had killed her,” said Tyali.

Advocate Siphokazi Maarman did not accept his plea and proceeded to call witnesses, including an eyewitness who had seen Siqotyana assaulting the deceased earlier on that day, and the doctor who identified stab wounds on the neck part of the deceased’s parts, which disproved the accused’s version of food poisoning.