Durban — A man who impersonated a police officer during a 2018 robbery and murder has been sentenced for his crimes.
The Eshowe Regional Court sentenced Siphiwe Kweyama, 28, to life and 15 years’ imprisonment for the murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances he committed in July 2018 in the Isithebe area of Sundumbili.
The victims were siblings aged 16 (dead) and 18 (complainant).
KwaZulu-Natal National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said that on the evening of July 13, 2018, in the evening, the siblings were at their homestead when Kweyama and his accomplices went there and robbed the complainant of his cellphone at gunpoint.
They forced him to his mother’s house, on the same homestead, where his younger siblings were preparing for bed. Pretending to be police officers they gained access to the house and assaulted the occupants, demanding money from them.
The room was dark as they had cut the electricity supply. Since the victims were crying, Kweyama, who was standing outside, instructed his accomplices to keep the victims quiet as the noise was going to wake the neighbour. At this point, the deceased recognised Kweyama’s voice and she mentioned that she knew they were not police officers as she knew Kweyama’s voice well. Before the incident, Kweyama had tried to court her. One of the assailants shot her three times and the men fled the scene.
Kweyama was arrested a week later in possession of the complainant’s cellphone, while one of the other perpetrators died following a shoot-out with police who were trying to arrest him.
Ramkisson-Kara said that in court, Prosecutor Nkosinathi Ngcongo led eyewitnesses’ testimonies and the evidence of the police officials who arrested Kweyama. Ngcongo further handed in a Victim Impact Statement compiled by the complainant and facilitated by court preparation officer Amanda Nxumalo.
In his statement, the complainant said his life has changed since the incident and that he and his family no longer feel safe in their home. He said his mother, who was grief-stricken at his sister’s death, died not long after. He also said he still has flashbacks and nightmares about the incident.
“Kweyama was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and 15 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances. He will serve an effective life imprisonment and the court declared him unfit to possess a firearm,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
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