KEY POINTS
- A former police sergeant was sentenced to life for arranging her husband’s murder, while her accomplice received 25 years.
- The victims—Nkosinathi Ntinga and Mpendulo Mdluli—were abducted and killed in a sugarcane field in a crime the judge called “exceptionally wicked.”
- The court dismissed Ntinga’s abuse claims, citing contradictions in her testimony and a lack of remorse.
In a case that has shocked South Africa, the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Mtubatuba sentenced former police sergeant Ntombizodwa Getrude Ntinga to life imprisonment on Friday for orchestrating the brutal murders of her husband, Nkosinathi Ntinga, and his colleague Mpendulo Mdluli.
TheCitizen reports that her co-accused, Samkelo Ncamisa Mpanza, received a 25-year prison term for his role in the killings.
The court heard how Ntinga, 34, conspired with her lover, Mira Khoza, to murder her husband—a fellow SAPS warrant officer—alleging years of domestic abuse.
However, Judge Robin Mossop dismissed her claims, stating, “Your wicked conduct causes one to question whether you are truly human or whether you are both monsters, devoid of human qualities.”
A calculated crime by Ntinga
The murder plot unfolded on August 1, 2023, when Ntinga lured her husband into a trap. After buying him alcohol from a local tavern in Phathane, she signaled Khoza and Mpanza to ambush the home.
The assailants restrained both Nkosinathi and Mdluli—who had arrived unexpectedly—before abducting them at gunpoint.
The victims were driven to a sugarcane field, where Nkosinathi was executed. Mdluli, who attempted to escape, was bludgeoned with a crowbar and left for dead. “The process of dying took approximately four days,” Judge Mossop noted grimly. “You simply left him at the side of the road as if he was a piece of trash.”
