Man Jailed For Strangling Girlfriend To Death Following Argument, Dumping Body In Field

A man in South Africa was sentenced to 25 years in prison Monday, two years after he strangled his girlfriend to death and dumped her body in the sugarcane field.

The accused, identified as Mlungisi Mthembu, was in a relationship with the victim, Tholakele Sithole, and suspected her of having an affair. On the day of the incident, Mthembu drove to the victim’s home where the two got into a heated argument, following which the accused strangled her to death. The incident took place in January 2019, Independent Online reported.

"On the day of the incident, he drove to her house and they argued for some time. Later that evening, he strangled her and wrapped her body in a comforter. He put her body into her car and drove to a sugarcane field where he dumped it," prosecutor Natasha Kara told the court, News 24 reported.

A missing complaint was filed by Sithole’s family members. As part of the investigation, the officers interviewed all those who interacted with the woman prior to her disappearance, including the accused. The investigators spoke to one of Mthembu’s friends who revealed the accused had confessed to him about killing the woman and had also sought his help in disposing of the body.

Three weeks after the murder, the body of the victim was found in a sugarcane field, following which the accused was taken into custody.

Further investigation revealed the man had attempted to sell his girlfriend’s car after dumping her body.

The accused was found guilty of murder and theft. He appeared in court Monday and was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for his girlfriend’s murder and 5 years imprisonment for the theft of her car.

Last week, a 62-year-old man in Jamaica was arrested for brutally killing his girlfriend over suspicion of her having an affair. The accused then walked to the police station and told the officers that he killed his girlfriend because she was cheating on him. Officers rushed to her home and found her partially nude body with several chop wounds.