REPORTER

A HEFTY sentence was imposed for Lizo Thana Ntilana (30) of Mhlotsheni in Port St Johns for the murder of a teenage girl (17) in 2022.

The victim was reported missing after she was last seen on her way to the Mhlotsheni village.

Local police assisted by the K9 Unit discovered her body at the bottom of the cliff in Mgxotho. The suspect was later arrested and charged for kidnapping, murder, robbery and defeating the ends of justice.

Police retrieved the victim’s cellphone from the suspect. The suspect abandoned bail and remained in custody until he was sentenced on December 11. He was given a five-year sentence for kidnapping, 22 years’ imprisonment for murder, 15 years for robbery and five years for defeating the ends of justice. Captain Welile Matyolo said that the crimes of kidnapping, robbery and defeating the ends of justice will run concurrently with the crime of murder.

Police OR Tambo district commissioner Major General Norman Modishana has welcomed the sentence, according to Matyolo.