Family angered by ‘lenient sentence’ for police officer convicted of killing his wife
|Published
Durban — “Twenty-five years is nothing due to the brutality of the murder. He didn’t even use a normal firearm but a high-calibre weapon.”
Those were the words of a Msomi family member reacting to the Pietermaritzburg High Court’s sentencing of SAPS Constable Mthokozisi Gregory Nene, 44, to 25 years in prison for murdering his wife, Nompilo Thobeka Nene, 40, in the Inchanga area on July 22, 2022.
He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
The family member who asked not to be named said: “She (Nompilo) was unidentifiable. The left side of her face was gone. Her eye was missing.”
The family member said Mthokozisi and his lawyer would appeal against the sentence. The appeal application will be on December 13.
“We hope he loses the appeal and gets more years on his sentence for wasting State resources,” she said.
“This was his wife, the mother of his children. He should’ve been given a life sentence. This was a police officer and an example should have been made of him.”
She said that although they were unhappy with the sentence, they were glad he had been sentenced.
The woman said several lives changed since the murder. The last two years have been difficult, she said. Their two children, aged 9 and 13, were not coping, to the point of having to repeat grades. One was taken out of a private school and was now attending a public school. The children were also undergoing counselling.
The children’s aunt had become their mother now, caring for them, taking them to counselling and responding when being called to school.
Nompilo’s mother, 80, has been in and out of hospital and was diagnosed with diabetes. Additionally, Mthokozisi’s father died a few months ago.
The woman said the Inchanga community has been supportive. Taxi loads of people would go to court with them.
KwaZulu-Natal National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said Advocate Melumzi Gula and Advocate Lauren Marais-Myeni successfully prosecuted the matter.
She said the couple had an acrimonious marriage. On the day of the incident, Mthokozisi brought his girlfriend home. Nompilo confronted him about it, leading to an altercation. Mthokozisi then shot her in the face with a high-calibre weapon and killed her. He was arrested the next day.
Ramkisson-Kara said that in court, the State presented evidence, including witness testimony. The State also handed in Victim Impact Statements, compiled by Nompilo’s family and facilitated by Court Preparation Officer, Princess Ntombi Khumalo.
Their statements described Nompilo as a dynamic person serving the community and her family. They also described how they have been affected by the incident and now lived in fear.
“Notwithstanding the fact that the accused was convicted of murder in terms of Section 51 (2) of the Minimum Sentences Act 105 of 1997, in other words, murder committed in circumstances where it is not premeditated and therefore attracts a minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment, the court nevertheless sentenced the accused to 25 years imprisonment – 10 years more than the minimum prescribed sentence,” said Ramkisson-Kara.
“The court was of the view that the aggravating circumstances, including the fact that the accused was a serving police official and that the matter fell within the ambit of gender-based violence and intimate partner femicide, warranted a robust sentence.”
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