Africa-Press – South-Africa. A 39-year-old man who killed his parents, sister and five-year-old niece following a dispute over R20 000 has been handed four life sentences.
Thobani Kesa, 39, was sentenced in the Eastern Cape High Court sitting in Sterkspruit, for the 2018 murders in which his four family members were found burnt beyond recognition in their Tienbank home.
Eastern Cape National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Luyolo Tyali said the dispute stemmed from an agreement entered into by Kesa, his brother and parents.
According to Tyali, Kesa and his brother were asked by their parents to build a house at their homestead and were promised payment for their labour.
He said they were paid a deposit and started constructing the house but did not finish it.
“They demanded payment for the balance despite not having finished it and that led to a quarrel.
“The two brothers approached the local small claims court, demanding R20 000. In the presence of the court clerk dealing with their claim, Kesa accused his mother of being a witch and dared her to pay him or face death.
“The parents were then advised to get a protection order.
“As a result, his mother and father obtained a protection order against the two brothers, and they [the brothers] went to stay in another village.”
One day, Tyali said, villagers noticed the house belonging to Kesa’s parents was on fire.
Blood
The police were called and discovered the couple, in their sixties, Kesa’s sister – who was in her late twenties – and her five-year old daughter had all been burnt beyond recognition.
“Police also collected blood spatters on the floor of the burnt house. The blood found on his [Kesa] clothes was linked through DNA to the blood found on the scene, which belongs to his mother, an indication that the deceased may have been assaulted before being burnt to death.”
Tyali added Kesa was located in another village, and the police found a bloodied tracksuit in his toilet.
He was also found wearing a hoodie with blood splatters.
Kesa was arrested but escaped from custody eight months later and went back to the same house he had set alight with his family inside.
“He said he wanted to inquire why his grandfather was selling his parents’ house. The residents beat him up and called the police,” said Tyali.
The case went to trial, and while Kesa had pleaded not guilty and chose not to testify, DNA from the blood splatters at the scene and his clothes positively linked him to the crime.
Arguing in aggravation of sentence, advocate Luvuyo Pomolo described Kesa as a cunning criminal who expressed no emotion about what happened to his family.
“Not every day that one hears of a case in which a person has wiped out almost his entire family from the face of the earth,” he said.
Judge Mbulelo Jolwana agreed, adding Kesa was a dangerous criminal whose cruelty knew no bounds.
Kesa also received an additional five years for arson and was declared unfit to possess a firearm.
Tyali said while Kesa’s brother was suspected of having been involved in the crime, there was no evidence linking him to it.
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