A chilling confession about what led up to the horrific death of a young mom from Strand was read out in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday, after denials by the murder suspect.
The shocking confession given by murder-accused Siyabonga Mbotyi, 34, has revealed that after he strangled his girlfriend, Nandipha Nthimkulu, to death, he mutilated her genitals with a broken glass bottle and placed it in an empty chips packet.
The 34-year-old man appeared bewildered as he returned to court on Tuesday when he took the stand in his own defence just moments before his confession was read into the court record.
According to the State’s case, Nandipha was killed on 25 October 2019 amid an argument with her berk.
The couple had just welcomed their newborn baby and Nandipha was at home being visited by Mbotyi’s sisters when he arrived home.
The State alleges that he had become enraged when he realised she had not made food for him and cut out her genitals with a broken glass bottle after strangling her.
In his confession, Mbotyi said he arrived home on 25 October 2019 and asked Nandipha for food, but claimed she was drunk.
He said he started shouting at her and questioned why she had not washed his clothes and when she shouted back at him he pounced on her and started strangling her.
His confession adds: “I then started to punch her with my hand against her neck… While we were fighting, I choked her.
“While I was busy choking her, I put my girlfriend on the floor.”
He told cops that in the struggle, Nandipha grabbed the blanket and the couple’s one-month-old baby fell off the bed but not even this deterred him.
He admits: “I choked her until she died. I then took a bottelkop and started to cut out her forehead.
“I also cut the ear of my girlfriend. I then cut her vagina with the bottelkop.”
He had previously denied the testimony given by his own sister Nthombembi Wayiza, who told the court that the morning after Nandipha’s murder he returned to the shack and could be seen with dry blood on his hands.
She further claimed that she saw her brother throw a chips packet on the roof of the shack which was later found to contain mutilated body parts.
Mbotyi denied being present on the night of the murder, claiming he had gone to Grabouw to buy vleis.
Closing his testimony, he told the court that he loved Nandipha: “I love her, she is the mother of my child.”