Acting Provincial Commissioner of KwaZulu-Natal, Major General Bhekinkosi Langa welcome the sentence handed down to the accused by the Madadeni High Court. “This shows that our detectives are using the skills and technology available at their disposal to make sure that enough evidence is collected and presented at court. I also thanked the community members who came forward and submitted their statements in making our case stronger at court”, he said.
Madadeni High Court convicted and sentenced Sandile Mkhize (23) to life imprisonment for murder, 15 years for robbery with aggravated circumstances, five years for attempted murder and three years for possession of unlicensed firearm. He was convicted after a well prepared evidence was presented to the judge and the accused was found guilty as charged last week Friday.
On 29 May 2016 at about 09:30, a Chinese national, Xiaoming Zhang (37) was in his shop with his co-worker at Madadeni area when they were approached by the accused at gunpoint. The victim was shot and killed and his co-worker (40) sustained a gunshot wound on her arm.
The accused took an undisclosed amount of cash and fled the scene. Charges of murder, attempted murder and robbery were opened for investigation at Madadeni SAPS. The detectives took over the investigation and the accused was tracked at Kwa-Nongoma area in possession of an unlicensed firearm. He was arrested three days after he committed a crime. Bail was successfully opposed against the accused until his sentence.
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