Murder accused Alutha Pasile has made a shocking confession in court that he killed his 23-year-old girlfriend Nosicelo Mtebeni and chopped her up guided by an internet video before packing her body parts in a suitcase which he dumped in a street.
Mtebeni, who was a student at the University of Fort Hare, was murdered on 17 August 2021.
On Tuesday, the high court sitting as a circuit court in East London found 25-year-old Pasile guilty of Mtebeni’s murder after listening to his shocking confession.
Pasile was also found guilty of attempting to defeat the course of justice.
The verdict came shortly after Pasile pleaded guilty to both counts.
In his guilty plea, Pasile said Mtebeni was his girlfriend and that they met on 23 January 2019.
He said they eventually cohabited in Quigney, East London.
The accused told the court that they shared each other’s cellphones.
He said things changed after Mtebeni visited her home in Matatiele on 1 August 2021 and returned seven days later.
The accused said when his girlfriend returned from her week-long visit her behaviour was peculiar.
Pasile said Mtebeni even changed her phone password – something which he said made him suspect she was cheating.
Narrating events a day before the fate fateful day the accused said the couple spent the evening drinking.
The accused said he noticed that Mtebeni paid more attention to her cellphone than to him.
Pasile said he asked her whom she was communicating with and an argument ensued.
The accused said the next day he managed to crack his girlfriend’s new password.
Pasile said he saw messages saying: “I love you” and “I miss you”.
He said he confronted Mtebeni. The accused said she wouldn’t explain herself and instead tried to forcibly take back her cellphone.
Pasile said he grabbed a knife and stabbed her. He said Mtebeni fought back resulting in the knife falling to the ground.
The accused said he grabbed Mtebeni and pushed her hard against a wall. He said she hit her head, fell facedown, and died on the spot.
Pasile told the court that when he realised she was dead he wanted to conceal her death. To do so he would need to dispose of her body.
The accused said he found a video on dismembering human bodies and disposing of the body parts in a suitcase.
Pasile said he smoked the narcotic drug tik to be able to sleep in the same room as his dead girlfriend.
The accused told the court that the next day he went to a local hardware store and bought items similar to the ones used in the video.
Pasile said he consumed more tik to give himself courage before he dismembered Mtebeni’s body just like he had seen in the video.
The accused said he placed the body parts in a bag, suitcase, and plastic bags. He said the following morning he took the suitcase and the bag to a street, where he dumped them.
Commenting on the confession, Senior State Advocate Nickie Turner confirmed that the guilty plea was in accordance with information at her disposal.
Judge Bheshe accepted Pasile’s guilty plea and found him guilty of both counts.
The state thereafter commenced with its case for sentence proceedings. It closed its case after leading the evidence of three witnesses.
The matter was postponed to Thursday for the pre-sentence report.
