THABO Ntokozo Nzimande, who was found guilty of murdering and beheading his 80-year-old grandmother, told the Durban High Court on Friday that he still can’t believe that the person he loved the most is gone.
Acting Judge Mpumelelo Sibisi found that there was no evidence to show that someone else could have killed the old woman, Beatrice DeLange, in the house where she and Nzimande lived, in Pinetown.
“The story told by the defendant that he does not know how the deceased was killed is a lie,” said Judge Sibisi.
The judge accepted the testimony of John Ngcobo, who is Nzimande’s uncle, saying that there was no reason to doubt his testimony that he saw Nzimande holding the severed head of his mother-in-law, throwing it from one side to the other, and kicking it like a soccer ball.
Ngcobo testified that after hearing noises coming from another house in the yard where they live, he and his wife Delisile — DeLange’s daughter — went to see what was happening.
When Nzimande failed to answer when they shouted, Delisile returned to the main house and Ngcobo continued to shout hoping that Nzimande would answer.
He said he looked out the window to see why Nzimande was not responding, that’s when he saw Nzimande covered in blood and holding DeLange’s severed head. Nzimande ordered him to call the police.
The Judge also rejected Nzimande’s defense point that he was not mentally sound at the time of the incident: “He has problems with selective forgetting when it comes to important questions.”
Nzimande said he did not know what happened to his grandmother the night she was killed, as she had taken sleeping pills, smoked marijuana, and then went to sleep.
Nzimande, says he does not remember anything about stabbing Beatrice de Lange, cutting off her head, and shaving her head like a ball on June 7, 2024. He said his grandmother was someone who always supported and helped him in any situation.
Giving evidence to request that his sentence be reduced, the 33-year-old man told the court that it is difficult for him to accept the death of his grandmother.
“I still can’t believe he’s gone. I can’t accept the fact that he’s gone and I won’t see him again,” said Nzimande.