Father who hanged four children using school belts to get back at wife for alleged affair gets four life sentences
A South African father, who killed his three young children and teen stepdaughter after he was served with divorce papers, will spend the rest of his life in prison.
MEAWW previously reported that Sibusiso Mpungose, 44, was arrested on September 4 after his son Kuhlekonke, 4, daughter Khwezi, 6, son Sphesihile, 10, were found hanging at their home in Wyebank, and his stepdaughter Ayakha Jikane, 16, was found hanging in the nearby woods.
Police said Mpungose waited until his estranged wife Xolisile, 42, went to work the previous day before picking up Kuhlekonke, Khwezi and Sphesihile from their schools and driving them to their marital home in Durban, where he killed them one by one.
He sent Sphesihile to buy snacks for all of them, and after the 10-year-old left, used school belts to hang Kuhlekonke and Khwezi from burglar prevention bars on the windows. When Sphesihile came back, he took him into a separate room and hanged him as well.
After killing his three children with Xolisile, he is said to have tricked Ayakha, Xolisile's daughter from a previous marriage, to come out of school, took her to some woods nearby, and hanged her.
He reportedly targeted Xolisile because he suspected she was having an affair with the girl's father.
The gruesome murders came to light after Xolisile became concerned over the unusual activity on her taxi app that showed trips being taken by Mpungose between their home and their children's school, and contacted the police. When the Wyebank police broke down the doors to the home, her worst fears were confirmed.
The 44-year-old pleaded guilty to four counts of murder, and during his sentencing hearing this past week, the court heard Xolisile's emotional victim impact statement where she said she couldn't go back to the home because she "cannot wash away the terrible pictures I have in my mind all the time."
"I am haunted by the cries of my children because I could not save them," she said, according to Daily Mail. "I feel my life ended the day my children were killed."
Handing down four life sentences, Judge Sharmaine Balton told Mpungose his actions were "horrendous and inhumane" and that he used the children as "pawns in this feud with your wife."
"This is inhumane and exceptionally aggravating against you especially as three were your own flesh and blood," he said. "There are no words to adequately describe your actions."