NPA successfully prosecutes man from Soshanguve for a murder he committed over 20 years ago

Estimated reading time: 6 minute(s)

Photo: supplied \NPA

The North Gauteng Division in Tshwane has handed down a life imprisonment sentence to a 52 years old man for a murder he committed in over 20 years ago in Soshanguve.

The 52 years old Lucky Maduane from Soshanguve, was 31 years old at the time when he strangled a 25 years old Florah Mahlo at Mahlo’s place during an argument between the two.

In a statement that was written under oath it said that the neighbours heard the noise coming from the said the place and they enquired about the noise in the morning, Maduane lied and said that Mahlo was visiting her family in Johannesburg.

The National Prosecution Authority Spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said that Maduane was then arrested and detained at Bavianspoort Maximum Prison a year later serving a 12 years sentence for attempted murder on a different case.

Being haunted by the murder of Mahlo, Maduane then called his sister and confessed to the murder.

He confessed about his sins that on September 3rd 1999 he strangled Mahlo to death and dragged her to the nearby bush where he burnt her body.

Seeing that the body was not completely burnt the following day, he then chopped into two halves and threw the bottom halve in a nearby drain and buried the remaining parts.

He called Mahlo’s mother in 2007 to confess but later on received a call telling him not to do anything.

“In June 2019, a fight broke between Maduane and his niece and his sister was called. When the sister arrived, she found that he was still very emotional and uncontrollably angry, then the sister called a friend and when the friend arrived, she asked why he was always fighting. He asked them to switch off their phones before he can speak. The sister pretended to have switched off the phone and proceeded to record everything.”

Mahanjana also said that he told them that he wanted to confess because Mahlo’s spirit was haunting him, and he took them to the crime scene where he had burnt and buried some of the body parts.

He also requested to meet with Mahlo’s mother to confess and he also took her to the scene.

Maduane was arrested few days later.

The NPA say they welcome the sentence even though they had initially called for nothing less than life imprisonment.