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MBABANE - A 23-year-old man of Lwandle has been arrested in connection with murder and attempted murder, which occurred at YeMfo Bar a fortnight ago.
6iboniso %ongo Ngcamphala la made his appearance before 0babane 0agistrate /enhle Zulu, charged with the two counts yes terday.
In the first count, Ngcamphalala was accused of hacking Thabani %hembe with a bush knife several times on the upper body, inflicting fatal wounds from which Thabani died. He is also accused of hack ing Thabo %hembe with a bush knife several times on the right arm, inflicting near fatal wounds from which Thabo nearly died.
The &rown applied that Ng camphalala be remanded in cus tody until 'ecember 2, 2022, pending committal to the High &ourt. The &rown also applied that blood samples be extracted from Ngcamphalala for further investigations.
Application
He was not opposed to the ap plication by the &rown and was remanded in custody until 'ecem ber 2, 2022 pending committal to the High &ourt.
0eanwhile, in the same court, 0agistrate Zulu exercised le niency on an 1 year old man of 6iphocosini, who appeared charged with housebreaking with intent to steal and theft.
Zulu considered the truthfulness from 0u]i when mitigating on his sentence. 0u]i was arrested for stealing money amounting to E 00 from 0notfo )akud]e¶s game room at Ntsetse, an area situated at 6iphocosini.
³I admit that I broke into the game room with intent to steal the money. I pleaded with the owner to beat me than laying a charge against me, however, he opted to lay the charge,” he said.
0u]i further told the court that he currently lived with his friend after he was expelled from her aunt¶s homestead. It was his ev idence that he was expelled for smoking, which was against the family principle.
³I dropped out in )orm to lack of money. I am currently living with my friend, who is do ing )orm II. His family welcomed me after I had shared my story. I was raised at my mother¶s paren tal homestead but I had to leave due to some reasons. I was never raised by my father,” he said.
Difficulties
0agistrate Zulu stated that courts had difficulties when faced with situations where children committed crimes out of neglect.
6he said means should be made to ensure that 0u]i was taken back to school as opposed to ex posing him to a jail life.
³The 'eputy 3rime 0inister¶s 2ffice has to be engaged to en sure that the child goes back to school. However, this is not to say the court condones his actions. %eing a child does not justify that one should go around stealing. There are many children who are in a similar situation like you but they do not go around committing offences,” said Zulu.
6he said the best sentence for 0u]i could be community service, so that he could not be exposed to hardcore criminals.