PMB taxi driver admits dumping bodies of mother, daughter
A Pietermaritzburg taxi driver who's admitted helping dump the bodies of a woman and her 12-year-old daughter in KwaDabeka, has been handed a six-year prison sentence.
The bodies of Smangele Simamane and her daughter, Sbongakonke Mthembu were found near Lwandile Road in October last year.
Simamane had been stuffed into a suitcase.
In his plea agreement, Sithembiso Lamula told the Pietermaritzburg High Court that his partner had believed that Simamane was responsible for the death of someone who'd been close to her.
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Lamula says his girlfriend had accused Simamane of witchcraft and lured her and her daughter to her home where she, along with two accomplices, interrogated them.
Lamula says his partner then phoned him saying she needed his help.
He says he arrived at her home to find the mother and daughter had been killed.
The 42-year-old claims he was instructed to load their bodies into his kombi and that when he refused, he was told they would pin the murders on him.
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He says he handed himself over in April and confessed to ease his conscience.
Lamula pleaded guilty to two counts of accessory after the fact this week.
