Drunk driver sentenced to 10 years for killing joggers
The drunk driver who knocked down and killed two joggers, and then hid one of their bodies, was jailed for an effective 10 years by the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court yesterday.
Magistrate Mishy Singh said Mcabango Hlongwa, 37, had deprived the country of two valuable engineers and devastated the families of Sithabile Mkhasibe and her boyfriend Xolani Nxele. Both were supporting their families and were intending to marry.
In his guilty plea, Hlongwa admitted that he drove after drinking two quarts of stout, and without a licence.
Hlongwa hid Mkhasibe's body in a sugarcane field at Dalton in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. It was found four days after the accident in February.
Singh said both victims had severe drag abrasions. She sentenced Hlongwa to five years for causing the death of each of the joggers, 12 months for driving his Honda Ballade while under the influence, and three months for defeating the ends of justice for hiding Mkhasibe's body.
The drunk driving and defeating the ends of justice sentences would run concurrently with the culpable homicide sentences. Singh said all four offences were serious and warranted custodial sentences.
(File photo: Getty Images)