A 26 year old man from Matsotsosela in Giyani pleaded guilty to killing his girlfriend.
Ntiyiso Xilumane admitted to strangling his ex-girlfriend to death at the hospital where she worked as an intern doctor.
He was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday by the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane.
Xilumane was a student at the University of Limpopo and had a son with his ex-girlfriend, Dr Shongile Pretty Nkhwashu.
Nkhwashu’s body was found in her room at Mankweng hospital on the evening of 19 January 2020.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi narrated that “at the time of the incident, the intern doctor was no longer his girlfriend.”
“It was the evidence of the State that the deceased had ended the relationship,” Malabi-Dzhangi said.
According to him, Nkhwashu ended their relationship on 15 January 2020 by sending a break-up text to Xilumane.
Xilumane travelled from his village in Giyani to the Mankweng Hospital where Nkhwashu worked on 17 January, .
He admitted that he grabbed her by the throat and pushed her to a bed.
Nkhwashu’s father, Kenneth, revealed to the court that Xilumane used to assault his daughter when they were together.
He told the court his daughter had even sent him a picture of herself with a swollen face as a result of the assault.
Xilumane received his life sentencing on Tuesday.
