A FARM supervisor who stabbed his girlfriend 23 times in a frenzied and drunken knife attack has been jailed for life.
Johnson Nkala, 50, killed Concillia Ncube, 22, in a jealous rage after suspecting she was having an affair, the Bulawayo High Court heard on Tuesday.
Justice Nicholas Ndou spared Nkala, of Valley Farm in Esigodini, the death sentence after considering his intoxication an extenuating factor.
The court heard Nkala and Ncube, who lived together, had both been drinking on the night of April 19 last year.
The pair retired to bed just after 10PM, but a furious row soon ensued with Nkala accusing his girlfriend of cheating on him.
Prosecuting, Nonhlanhla Ndlovu told the court Nkala armed himself with a knife and chased Ncube through the house before catching up with her in the living room.
He pushed her into a corner and stabbed her 23 times.
Before sending him away for life, Justice Ndou told him he was lucky.
“This is a borderline case in which the extenuating circumstances are thin, essentially your word. This court has given you the benefit of the doubt,” the judge said.