Bedroom grave killer jailed

A man who killed his girlfriend and buried her body in a shallow grave in his bedroom has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by the Wesselsbron Magistrate Court in the Free State.

Maditaba Setsetse was found dead by police when they went to search for her at her boyfriend’s shack in Virginia after relatives had reported her missing.

The relatives told police they believed the boyfriend, Siyabonga Mbharu, 29, had something to do with her disappearance.

The incident happened in May last year and the matter had been dragging through courts since then.

The conviction and sentencing of Mbharu was handed down by the high court sitting in Virginia on Wednesday.

Police spokesperson in the area constable Kethabile Mofokeng said, “On 3 May last year Maditaba Setsetse was reported missing and the boyfriend was suspected to know of her whereabouts. After a missing person file was registered for further investigation, the boyfriend was brought in for questioning.”

Mofokeng noted that while a police docket for a missing person was being registered at the local station, two police investigators drove to the shack where Mbharu lives in Ithoballe informal settlement. Upon arrival, they made the gruesome discovery of Setsetse’s body buried in a shallow grave under the bed.

The bad smell coming from the room made police suspicious and they became to search the shack further.

“They lifted the bed, removed the carpet and noticed a shallow grave. The shallow grave was dug and the body of a human being was found which was later identified by relatives as the body of Maditaba,” Mofokeng explained.

She added that a case of murder then replaced the missing person docket and led to the swift arrest of Mbharu.

Station commander at the Wesselsbron police station Lieutenant Colonel Johan Englebrecht has hailed Mbharu’s conviction and sentencing, praising police investigators for a job well done.

In particular, Englebrecht singled out the investigating officer in the matter, detective constable Letube Letube.
Meanwhile, two suspects bust in Thabong over the theft of copper cable valued at R60 000 are due to appear in the magistrate court in the area soon. The two, aged 29 and 35, are charged with possession of suspected stolen property.