Johannesburg – Murder accused Ziphozethu Shange – the man found on his PlayStation while the bloody, battered, and stabbed body of his 25-year-old girlfriend, Ntwetle Sanelisiwe Sibiya, lay close by on the floor – claims he has become suicidal.
Wearing blue skinny jeans, a black hoodie, and white Nike Airforce1 sneakers, Shange, who is out on bail appeared briefly in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
The defence lawyer produced a medical certificate that said the accused had developed “multiple parasuicidal complications”.
The sheer brutality of Ntwetle’s murder in February left her family so traumatised they could not bear to travel from Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, to hear the details in court in Johannesburg.
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Ntwetle’s body had multiple stab wounds, which postmortem results recently confirmed were the cause of death.
When police arrived at the couple’s apartment in a Riversands complex, on 11 February 2022, they recovered Ntwetle’s body and found bloodied bedding stuffed in a bedroom closet.
They also found a bloodied mop in the bathroom and a bucket with blood-stained water. There were signs blood had been mopped off the floor.
Shange was promptly arrested.
Since then, the accused made several appearances in court before he was granted bail.
Because the postmortem results confirmed Ntwetle was stabbed to death, Shange’s bail had been expected to be revoked.
However, on Wednesday, during Shange’s brief appearance in court, his lawyer disclosed his medical condition.
The magistrate suggested that to speed up the matter, the accused’s doctor must book him in for a 30-day psychiatric evaluation.
Shange was ordered to return to court on 22 November 2022 to give an update on the psychiatric evaluation.
CRIME SCENE: Police recovered Ntwetle’s body and found blood-stained bedding, a soiled mop and a bathroom with blood on the floor
