Teen pleads guilty to brutal rape, murder of child
Lindokuhle Mthethwa, 19, pleaded guilty to kidnapping, raping and killing a 5-year-old girl from his neighbourhood in KZN.
|||Durban - A 19-year-old from KwaDukuza on Tuesday pleaded guilty in the Durban High Court to kidnapping, raping and killing a 5-year-old girl from his neighbourhood.
He also pleaded guilty to housebreaking with intent to commit an offence.
Lindokuhle Mthethwa was linked to the crime by his DNA as well as little Nelisiwe Mngomezulu’s blood found on his jacket.
The matter was set down for trial this week before Judge Johan Ploos van Amstel, but because of the overwhelming evidence against him, Mthethwa decided to plead guilty.
His Legal Aid attorney, Theyagaraj Pillay, read the youngster’s plea to the court and also said Mthethwa was 18 at the time of the offence and was living with his mother and step-father in Velani Township in Etete, near KwaDukuza.
Mthethwa said on July 4, last year, he went to a party nearby with friends where they danced and drank ciders until the early hours of the morning.
At 1am, one of his friends asked him for his room key to sleep and then left.
Two hours later, Mthethwa left the party, with the rest of his friends, and went home but said he could not sleep.
“I craved a cigarette so I went to the local tuckshop but it was closed. On the way back home, I stopped at a neighbour’s house two doors away. The door was closed, but not locked so I opened it and went in,” his plea read.
The house was dark inside so he used the light from his cellphone to see his way around.
He entered a bedroom and found an adult sleeping with some children.
He then entered a second bedroom and saw a few children sleeping in there.
“A young girl woke up and saw me. Afraid she’d scream and wake up everyone, I put my hand over her mouth and took her out the house. Once out I decided to take her and rape her in the nearby bushes,” the plea continued.
At this point, members of the community present in court gasped as they listened to the plea.
“I was then scared that the girl would tell her family what happened so I decided to kill her. I struck her head against a rock in the bush. I then went home and slept,” he said.
At 8am the following morning, he was confronted by members of the community about Nelisiwe’s disappearance.
He ran away to his grandmother’s house where he was later arrested.
“I’m sorry for my actions and regret what I did,” he said.
According to the indictment, Nelisiwe was found in the bushes and taken to Stanger Provincial Hospital where she later died.
State advocate ZG Mshololo told the court she accepted Mthethwa’s plea and the judge, satisfied with the plea, found him guilty.
Pillay said considering Mthethwa’s age at the time of the offence, he requested a probation officer’s report for the court to have a better insight and background to the circumstances.
The matter was adjourned until September 22.
Nelisiwe’s mother did not want to come to court on Tuesday.
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