Zimbabwean jailed for life in UK

Zimbabwean jailed for life in UK

• Student knifed to death on Christmas Day in Bradford

• Woman died after bungled self-abortion

• 4 years for scalding hubby with boiling cooking oil

• Zim man scalded with hot cooking oil in Luton

• Zim student in UK credit card fraud

By Wesley Johnson, PA

A FAILED Zimbabwean asylum seeker was jailed for life last Friday after he admitted murdering a mother of three while her 12-year-old daughter watched.

Nkosilathi Ndlovu, 27, violently stabbed Nobuhle Ndlovu, 37, around twenty times at her home in Scholemoor Avenue, Bradford, between 6am and 8am on Christmas Day last year.

He also stabbed the 12-year-old girl twice in her leg, before stabbing himself in the stomach.

He pleaded guilty to murder and unlawful wounding today at Bradford Crown Court and the judge will ask the Home Secretary to deport him back to Zimbabwe once he has served at least 13 years and 203 days in jail.

The judge, James Stewart QC, told the defendant: “You lost it.”

He said: “This was a frenzied attack with a knife on a defenceless, naked woman in her own home, while her children were present.

“The picture I have of this is of a woman facing the floor and you with a raised knife stabbing her in the back.

“You punctured her aorta causing, mercifully, a quick death. You stabbed this child and then you stabbed their mother.

“The magnitude of the effect on them of having their mother’s life snuffed out in this way while they were present is incalculable.”

The judge said the only possible explanation for the defendant’s actions was that, according to a psychiatrist’s report, Ndlovu felt “manipulated and disempowered” by the relationship.

Referring to the report, the judge said: “Effectively it says, as I discussed with your counsel, you lost it.”

The court heard Ndlovu, who claims he cannot remember what happened, had been living in the UK illegally since February 2001 when his asylum application was rejected.

He had been to a party with the victim, to whom he was not married, on Christmas Eve, where they had argued.

"This was a frenzied attack with a knife on a defenceless, naked woman in her own home, while her children were present"

JUDGE, JAMES STEWART QC

Prosecuting, Tom Bayliss, QC, said that in the early hours of Christmas Day they returned to their address and the argument continued, when the victim – a widowed mother of three – told Ndlovu she had “had enough of him” and repeatedly asked him to leave. He started packing his bags and she went to have a bath.

Mr Bayliss said the defendant, who had drunk more than 12 cans of lager, then armed himself with a blue-handled kitchen knife which had a blade measuring 18cm by 3.5cm, and concealed it up his sleeve.

The court heard the defendant started walking upstairs and had to pass the 12-year-old girl who was reading a newspaper on the stairway.

Mr Bayliss said the defendant told her to shut up and grabbed her by the shoulder before stabbing her twice in the leg, causing her to scream.

Ndlovu then attacked her mother, who had come out of the bathroom naked to see what was going on, stabbing her around 20 times whilst she lay on the floor as the young girl watched.

The court was told the stab wounds, which were mainly to her back, would have required “severe force” as they pierced her ribs.

The 12-year-old girl, who has now recovered from her injuries, tried to hit Ndlovu with a mirror she picked up during the attack to stop him, but it did not work.

The girl told police: “He grabbed me by the shoulder. I tried to go down stairs but he pulled me and stabbed me. He told me to shut up.”

Two of the victim’s children, two boys then aged 15 and nine, were in the living room as they had been woken by the argument.

The oldest boy, now 16, told police Ndlovu had said: “I’ll kill all of you.”

Mr Bayliss said: “The children were rightly terrified with what was happening and had the presence of mind to escape through the kitchen window and run to a neighbour.”

Armed police were then called and their mother’s body was found at the top of the stairs, outside the bathroom.

The defendant, who had been working in the UK as a cleaner under a false name, had locked himself in the bathroom and had stab wounds to his stomach. He was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary, where he was detained for treatment until January 11.

In mitigation, David Steer QC said Ndlovu had pleaded guilty and spared the children from having to relive the ordeal of their mother’s murder. He said Ndlovu was of previous good character and there had been an “absence of premeditation” to the attack.

Mr Steer added the defendant had expressed deep remorse for his actions, both to the police and in a letter to the judge, and did not pose a “general risk to the public”.

Ndlovu was also sentenced to three years, to run concurrently, for unlawfully wounding the young girl.

Outside court, Detective Superintendent Phil Sedgwick, of West Yorkshire Police, said the children were being cared for by relatives.

He said: “I’m sure every time Christmas Day comes round they will remember their mother died a very violent death at the hands of a monster.”

Asked about the sentence, he said: “He got what he deserved. He orphaned three children and committed an atrocious crime on Christmas Day in front of the children.

“I don’t see how he could have got any other sentence.”
Do you have a story? Please ring the New Zimbabwe.com on (UK numbers) 02920315905 or 07984570744 or 07976475020 or just use the e-mail at the foot of the page
JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS
newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com