23-year-old South African woman sentenced to 39 years imprisonment for k!lling her cop boyfriend and staging death as suicide

A 23-year-old woman, Bongiwe Praise Magwaza, has been sentenced to 39 years imprisonment for the m8rder of her boyfriend, police sergeant Kgopotso Ntsana,36, in South Africa.

Magwaza was sentenced in the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday, 14 August 2024. 

The sentences are as follows:  

Count 1 Murder: 20 years

Count 2 Unlawful Possession of Firearm: 7 years

Count 3 Unlawful Possession of ammunition: 5 years

Count 4 Defeating the end of justice: 7 years

She was also declared unfit to possess a firearm. 

Following an investigation by the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime team and insurmountable evidence presented at court, Magwaza was found guilty as charged on four counts, murder, possession of unlicensed firearm & ammunition and defeating the ends of justice. She was convicted on Monday, 01 July 2024.

The unyielding Hawks investigation has shed light on what transpired on the fateful night Sergeant Ntsana lost his life. 

According to Warrant Officer Thatohatsi Mavimbela, the Gauteng spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, on Friday, 02 December 2022, at about 22:30, the couple had an argument at their shared residence in Leomakalapa next to Windmill Park Estate in Boksburg. 

“The argument escalated to a scuffle which resulted in Magwaza stabbing the deceased with a pair of scissors multiple times. Magwaza then took the deceased’s firearm from where it was kept and shot him on his head at point-blank range,” Mavimbela said. 

She then placed the firearm next to the deceased in an effort to make it seem like he had committed suicide. She left the residence and spent a night at her other boyfriend’s place in Germiston. On her return to the house the next day, she informed the neighbours that her boyfriend apparently killed himself. Authorities were alerted and attended to the scene.

An inquest docket was registered at Dawn Park police station pending preliminary investigation. 

Blood spatter experts and photographers were called to examine the scene. The crime scene reconstruction experts visited the scene on Monday, December 5. 

At that stage, Magwaza had been detained at Boksburg police cells on charges of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH), while the probe into the death of the police officer was ongoing. 

Magwaza was detained after she indicated that she stabbed Ntsana, but denied killing him.

The case was not placed on the court roll on December 6, 2022, owing to insufficient evidence. 

“Captain Sizwe Sibeko from the Hawks’ National Priority Violent Crimes (NPVC), swiftly picked up Magwaza from the cells before she could be let go. This followed a forensic factual report that ruled out suicide as the cause of death due to inconsistencies discovered after the crime scene was reconstructed,” he said. 

Magwaza was then charged with murder. She subsequently appeared before the Boksburg Magistrates on December 7. The court eventually granted her R1,000 bail in January 2023 following numerous appearances. 

The bail was revoked on November 22, 2023, and she was referred to Sterkfontein for mental evaluation after she started acting erratic. 

“The facility declared her fit to stand trial and she has been in custody ever since, culminating in her recent sentencing proceedings which started on Monday, August 12,” said Mavimbela.