Africa-Press – South-Africa. A North West man has been sentenced to life behind bars, plus additional prison terms for a series of events that started with the attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend in 2020, and ended in the murder of her 10-year-old daughter in 2021.
Joseph Phage, 39, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, five years for kidnapping, and 15 years for attempted murder after he pleaded guilty in the Klerksdorp Regional Court.
Sketching the background, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Henry Mamothame said Phage went to his ex-girlfriend Betty Sithole’s house in June 2020. Their child lived with him and her grandmother at the time and Sithole told him to take the child home.
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“Instead of taking the child, Phage started crying and begging Betty to forgive him and allow their love affair to continue. Betty then refused the proposition, and Phage took out a knife and stabbed her while she was carrying their child,” Mamothame said.
Her sister tried to intervene but was also stabbed and bludgeoned over the shoulder. Sithole was stabbed multiple times before Phage fled the scene.
He was arrested on 9 August 2021, but escaped from custody on 4 November.
While he was at large, the body of Sithole’s daughter, Kamogelo Sithole, was found inside his shack in Sonderwater informal settlement, near Potchefstroom.
He was rearrested three days after he escaped.
“Phage is alleged to have kidnapped Betty’s 10-year-old girl at a primary school in Ikageng and taken her to an unknown location. Following the child’s disappearance, the mother reported a case of kidnapping at a local police station. He was arrested as he failed to disclose the whereabouts of the child to who he was not the biological father,” Mamothame added.
North West Director of Public Prosecutions Rachel Makhari Sekhaolelo said: “We are pleased by the collaboration by the prosecutor and the investigating officer in ensuring that this case was watertight. The protection of women and children is something the criminal justice system will never compromise.”
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