By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Murderer Flavio Hlabangwane has been sentenced to life in prison for the premeditated murder of Tshepang Pitse.
Judge Cassim Moosa, at the South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, handed the qualified actuarial scientist a life sentence for premeditated murder along with a 10-year sentence for defeating the ends of justice and an additional 15 years for violating a corpse. The 10 and 15-year sentence will run concurrently with the life term.
“I make it clear that I have taken each and every personal circumstance of the accused when exercising my discretion in determining a suitable sentence. The killing of the deceased is an intimate killing and femicide.
“The way he conducted himself thereafter by dismembering the deceased’s body and disposing of the body and torso, storing her hands and (lower) limbs in the freezer. The killing of women by their male intimate partners is the most extreme form of intimate partner violence and the most extreme consequence of extreme-partner violence,” said Judge Moosa.
“Violence towards women and intimate partner killings, in particular, is endemic in South Africa. Domestic violence has become a scourge and should not be treated lightly. Our country’s violent crime level has reached dangerous alarming proportions, especially regarding women and children. The government has identified violence against women as a national scourge.”
Hlabangwane was arrested in November 2021 after body parts of his ex-girlfriend were discovered inside a fridge at his home in Soweto.
The discovery was made by his then new girlfriend, who alerted neighbours and the police.
She was buried in 2022 without all her body parts. Initially, police thought that her murder was related to a ritualistic killing until the gruesome discovery.
During the trial, it came out in court that the couple had an abusive relationship.
There were also concerns about Pitse’s inheritance money following her mother’s death. At the time, it emerged that Hlabangwane married Pitse to get his hands on her money.