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Six life sentences for killing partner, five kids with axe because she ’cheated on him’

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’’Remorseless’’ Nowa Makula, 32, had hacked his victims, including a six-month-old baby, to death in their sleep in Sidabekweni Village in the Eastern Cape.

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Elliottdale – Nowa Makula has received six life sentences after pleading guilty to murdering his girlfriend and five children with an axe.

Zimbabwean Makula, 32, hacked his victims, including a six-month-old baby, to death in their sleep in Sidabekweni Village in the Eastern Cape on November 25 last year. The Elliotdale Regional Court had heard that he decided to kill Nokuthula Mhlanti, 42, and the children because she had allegedly cheated on him.

He first hacked Mhlanti, who he had been dating since 2012, to death before killing the children, three of which he had fathered with her. Makula claimed he had then tried to hang himself, but the rope broke three times before he fled the scene.

He then attempted to escape the country and was arrested three days later after committing the murders in Ginsberg township in Qonce (previously King Williams Town), 300km from the crime scene.

’’On that sad and traumatising morning, the detectives witnessed the horrific scene of human bodies strewn all over the shack the six occupied as their home. Every document, which included identity documents, cellphones and other valuables, were cut into pieces,’’ Eastern Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana said in a statement.

Magistrate Sizakele Sihlahla said the ’’tragic killings and destruction of innocent souls’’ was tantamount to a “massacre”, Kinana said.

According to the magistrate, the killings were motivated by selfishness as the accused did not demonstrate any remorse but attempted to escape. He added that the killings would have a long-term impact on the affected families and society at large.

Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Liziwe Ntshinga welcomed the hefty sentence delivered yesterday, applauding the SAPS teams which were involved in the investigations.

“I am standing here a proud leader of these teams and I must also appreciate the role of the National Prosecuting Authority in ensuring that the work of our detectives prevails in court. I also cannot overemphasise the support of our communities,” said Ntshinga.

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