Africa-Press – South-Africa. Violence by men towards women is endemic. We dare not let the killers win. As a society, they do not succumb to the treacherous, cowardly and debilitating logic of gender-based violence.”
Judge Cassim Moosa didn’t mince his words when he handed down a harsh sentence on the convicted murderer Flavio Hlabangwane, 28, in the packed Gauteng High Court sitting in Palm Ridge on Tuesday.
Moosa sentenced Hlabangwane to an effective life sentence for killing his cousin and girlfriend, Tshepang Pitse, 23, two years ago at his rented property in Soweto.
Pitse was a fourth-year medical student at Wits University while Hlabangwane was an actuarial science graduate from the same university.
“I make it clear that I have taken each and every personal circumstance of the accused when exercising my discretion in determining a suitable sentence. The killing of the deceased is an intimate killing and femicide.
“The way he conducted himself thereafter by dismembering the deceased’s body and disposing of the body and torso, storing her hands and (lower) limbs in the freezer. The killing of women by their male intimate partners is the most extreme form of intimate partner violence and the most extreme consequence of extreme-partner violence,” said Moosa.
“Violence towards women and intimate partner killings, in particular, is endemic in South Africa. Domestic violence has become a scourge and should not be treated lightly. Our country’s violent crime level has reached dangerous alarming proportions, especially regarding women and children. The government has identified violence against women as a national scourge.”
Research
“It is clear from the evidence that it was a senseless killing of Pitse by Hlabangwane. I have taken note of a survey conducted in 2009, which revealed that 57% of women who were killed where the perpetrators were known were killed by intimate partners. In addition, the fact that South Africa’s female homicide rate was six times higher than the global rate.
“The research also revealed that intimate femicide is more common in South Africa than most countries of the world, and the proportion of intimate homicide in South Africa is much higher than the global average of 57%.”
Moosa continued that Hlabangwane’s argument was pent-up emotion and diminished responsibility when he stabbed and killed Pitse.
“Sadly, I cannot accept his argument as the viva voce [oral] evidence of Thulisile Lubambo and the totality of the evidence don’t lend support or credence to this narrative of the accused. Accordingly, his version that Pitse was unfaithful to him stands to be summarily rejected upon the available evidence.
“He produced a narrative in his guilty plea explanation to suit and attract sympathy to himself and ultimately to cultivate the landscape for a lesser sentence. The contents of the plea explanation can’t be termed as facts. Lubambo was not challenged and cross-examined by Hlabangwane. As such, her evidence and veracity stand unshaken before this court,” said Moosa.
He said there was no reasonable possibility that the judgement of the accused was impaired and that he acted with diminished responsibility when he stabbed and dismembered the deceased’s body, as the court had found he acted on a degree of planning and premeditation.
“I have noted that he wanted to dictate the terms of the trial by providing a narrative favourable to himself in his plea explanation and with the hope of dictating the type of sentence to be imposed if convicted.
Moosa said Hlabangwane failed to take the court into his confidence and threw snippets of information at the court from afar.
“I am inclined to conclude that he is more regretful at being arrested and convicted than remorseful for his actions. It was clear that he painted the deceased in a bad light at all material times while playing the victim, attempting to downplay his role and justify his actions.
“Requirement of society requires that careless murder, such as the present, should not be punished too leniently [it would lead to] the administration of justice [being] brought into disrepute. The punishment should not only reflect the shock and indignation of the interested person and the community at large and so serve as a just retribution for the crime. Still, it should also deter others from similar conduct.”
Moosa added that gruesome intimate partner killings are becoming the “order of the day” in the country.
“The crime of murder is in the serious category of common law offence. The determination of an appropriate sentence must appropriately reflect that. Violence by men towards women is endemic. We dare not let the killers win. As a society, they do not succumb to the treacherous, cowardly and debilitating logic of gender-based violence.
“I am of the view that a clear, crisp, and ambiguous message be sent out to society and like-minded offenders that this court and others in the land will not be supine and tolerate this scourge to continue unabated. Femicide is a pandemic in the country. The entire country laments and expresses frustrations against the scourge of GBV. Sekwanele, enough is enough,” said Moosa.
Hlabangwane was sentenced to life imprisonment for premeditated murder, 10 years for defeating the cause of justice and 15 years for violating Pitse’s corpse.
Moosa ordered that the sentence run concurrently with life imprisonment.
“Hlabangwane is ordered to participate in long-term psychotherapy focusing on behaviour, anger management, substance use and insight-oriented intervention offered by correctional services. He is deemed unfit to possess a firearm. The court issues a search and seizure for competency certificates, licences, authorisations and permits, firearms and ammunition.
“The family of the deceased is informed that they have the right, subject to directives issued by the commissioner of correctional services, to make representations when placement of the prisoner on parole, day parole and correctional supervision or to attend any relevant meetings of the parole board,” Moosa concluded.
Background
Hlabangwane pleaded guilty to planning and researching how to kill Pitse.
He confessed that he killed Pitse between October and 13 November 2021 at his rented property in Soweto.
He killed her after they argued about him using her bank card without her permission.
Hlabangwane pushed Pitse, who hit the back of her head on the corner of the stove, stabbed her in her neck, and she died in seconds.
He went out to buy drugs and returned with a butcher’s knife and cut her legs and arms.
He buried her head in a shallow grave in Randfontein and threw the torso in the Klip River.
Hlabangwane kept her arms and legs in his freezer.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
