The police management in Limpopo has welcomed the hefty sentences handed down by the Limpopo Division of the High Court on Wednesday 9 November 2022 against a 51-year-old man, Tinyiko Tony Simango for the brutal murder of Victor Alexander Phokgedi Lekau aged 65 of Ga-Mphahlele village outside Lebowakgomo.
The trial court reached its decision to convict the accused after hearing details on how the traditional healer killed his client at the time he visited his practice at Hlakano village in Zebediela for consultation on Sunday 2 May 2022.
The two drove to the bushes near Groothoek to perform rituals and upon arrival, the accused hit the victim with a wheel spanner killing him instantly, then drove off in the robbed motor vehicle.
The accused drove around the nearby villages trying to sell the deceased’s vehicle but failed.
A few days later, the tracker company contacted the deceased’s family when they could not reach him after they noticed that the battery was disconnected. That’s when the family went to Lebowakgomo police station to report the matter. A case of missing person was opened and police commenced with the search operation for the missing man.
The accused was arrested the same week on 7 May 2022, while admitted in hospital after the vehicle overturned following a speed car chase with the tracking company.
He then confessed to killing the victim and further took the police to the scene of crime where the body was found already in a state decomposition.
The missing person case was consequently changed into murder and robbery.
Detective Sergeant Mmabatho Ledwaba of Zebediela detectives was assigned took over the investigation.
The accused was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for murder and 12 years imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently which means the accused will serve an effective 20 years imprisonment.
The Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe has appreciated the investigating officer Sergeant Ledwaba for the outstanding investigation.
