A 52-year-old Soshanguve man who at first thought he had got away with murdering his girlfriend was later haunted by her “spirit” and confessed to the crime.

Collings Lucky Maduane was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his girlfriend, Florah Mahlo (25) who he strangled more than 20 years ago, when he appeared in the Pretoria High Court this week.  He was 31 years old when he killed her.

NPA regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said neighbours had heard screams coming from Mahlo’s residence while Maduane was at home with her on 3 September 1999.

“In the morning when they met Maduane, they enquired about the screams and the whereabouts of Mahlo. Maduane told them that she was visiting relatives in Johannesburg,” Mahanjana said.

“In the year 2000, while Maduane was detained in Bavianspoort Maximum Prison serving a 12 year sentence for attempted murder in another case, he was haunted by Mahlo’s spirit.  He then called his sister and confessed,” Mahanjana said.

A HAUNTED MAN’S CONFESSION

Maduane , haunted by the murder, confessed that he had strangled her strangled her and dragged her to the nearby bush where he burnt her body.

“The following day, he went to where he burnt the body and discovered that it was not completely burnt, he then decided to chop the body into two halves. He chopped the bottom part and threw it in the nearby drain. He then buried the remaining parts,” Mahanjana said.

A haunted Maduane asked to meet Mahlo’s mother in order to confess the crime in 2007 but a received a phone call and was advised not to do anything.

“In June 2019, a fight broke out between Maduane and his niece and his sister was called. When the sister arrived, she found that he was still very emotional and uncontrollably angry,” Mahanjana said.

“His sister called a friend and when the friend arrived, she asked why he was always fighting. He asked them to switch off their phones before he spoke. The sister pretended to have switched off her phone and recorded everything. He told them that he was stressed because since Mahlo passed on, she is troubling him,” Mahanjana said.

“He confessed. He said he wanted to take them to where he killed her. After pointing out the places and confessing to the friend and the sister, he requested to meet with Mahlo’s mother to confess to her as well,” he said.

Mahlo’s mother arrived the following day, he confessed and pointed out as he did to his friend and sister.    Police arrested him for the murder that had haunted him for so long, a few days later.

“The court believed that Maduane was indeed haunted by the spirit of the deceased because he had successfully evaded justice for 19 years,” Mahanjana said.

Advocate Dorah Ngobeni, asked the court to impose the minimum prescribed sentence of life imprisonment because the murder had been carefully planned and Maduane had a clear intension to kill the deceased.

“The National Prosecuting Authority welcomes the sentence,” Mahanjana said.