Family outraged by lenient sentence for police officer involved in murder

The family of a man who was kidnapped and killed in 2022 by a detective from the Marianhill police station said it was not happy with the sentence imposed on him by the Durban High Court earlier this week. 

Former detective Ayanda Percival Ntombela was sentenced to five years for kidnapping Sihle Mtshare, 18 years for murder, four years imprisonment for defeating the administration of justice, and one year for theft, after he pleaded guilty to all the charges. 

According to Ntombela, he suspected that Mtshare was involved in a hit that was being planned for Bongekile Ntuli. Ntuli was the adopted daughter of a Phungula couple in Marianhill who had recently received an inheritance.

The Phungula couple (a husband and wife) and a neighbour were murdered in Marianhill in December 2022. The neighbour had witnessed the perpetrators going to the Phungula couple on the day they were murdered and for this reason, was also killed.

The slain Mtshare was a relative of the Phungula family, and when Ntombela kidnapped him, he was at the Phungula homestead. 

In committing the act of kidnapping Ntombela said he was taking Mtshare to the station for questioning. Ntombela said that because Mtshare refused to cooperate and denied being involved in a hit being planned for Ntuli, he took him to a secluded area where he assaulted him in an attempt to get him to cooperate.

Ntombela said Mtshare died and he then dumped his body at a stormwater pipe in Cato Ridge.

Mtshare’s family reported him missing after he was not found. During that time, they protested outside the Marianhill Police Station, as Mtshare was last seen being taken by Ntombela. 

When Ntombela confessed in September 2022 and took his colleagues to where he dumped Mtshare’s body, he was arrested and got bail in the same year. 

Mtshare’s aunt, Phumzile Mtshare, said Ntombela was a police officer responsible for protecting the community. 

“We rely on the police to protect us. This included Sihle, who is now dead because of a police officer. The 18-year sentence is too lenient. This should have been an opportunity for the justice system to hand down a sentence that was going to send a strong message,” she stated.  

Phumzile said the family was even more upset that Ntombela decided to plead guilty four years later, after the murder. 

“Sihle's body was found 18 days after he was killed; his body had begun decomposing. Ntombela sat on information, not telling us where Sihle was for 18 days. He watched us protesting outside the police station every day, knowing very well what had happened to Sihle,” Phumzile explained.

Mtshare's mother, Sebenzile Phungula, said that while no sentence could bring back Sihle, knowing that Ntombela was behind bars made her feel safer. 

“Since he was granted bail, I've lived in three different places. I was moving around to feel safe because I had started getting strange phone calls from unknown numbers shortly after the murder of our other relatives,” she said.

 All Ntombela’s sentences were ordered to run concurrently. 

nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za