Rustenburg – A man accused of strangling his girlfriend and setting a shack alight while she was inside was found guilty of attempted murder in the Rustenburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

Jimmy Kgokgome, 26, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for strangling 19-year-old Palesa Malesa.

Passing the sentence, Regional Court Magistrate, Christaan Nel, told Kgokgome that problems could not be solved through violence.

“If a problem cannot be solved in peace, it could not be solved in war. People must be reminded that there are peaceful ways to solve problems,” he said.

Nel said that Kgokgome did not seek medical help for Malesa after he throttled her, which resulted in her losing consciousness.

“You did not seek medical help. Instead you and your pastor prayed. You later went to a tavern to have few drinks. She was of no concern to you at that stage…You decided to destroy the evidence in that you killed her,” Nel said.

Prosecutor Rudolph Smit urged the court to impose a lengthy jail term and said he doubted that Kgokgome was remorseful.

“His action was unnecessary,” he argued.

Kgokgome’s lawyer, Norman Ngwenya, asked the court to have mercy on his client, pleading with the court to consider his age and that he was a first time offender.

“The accused was remorseful,” said Ngwenya.

“He outlined to the court what happened.”

During the trial, Kgokgome told the court that he felt “bad” about what happened.

“If I could change things, I could turn back things to normality, but unfortunately I cannot reserve what I have done,” Kgokgome said.

Kgokgome strangled Malesa in Lethabong outside Rustenburg on June 16, 2012. He said they had argued over R500 he had spent at a tavern drinking with friends.

He pushed her and throttled her. When she fainted, he put her on a bed and went back to the tavern. When he returned that night, he tried to wake her up but she did not respond. Later on Sunday, his church priest visited him and he told the priest that he had killed his girlfriend.

“He did not believe me, and we prayed together,” he told the court.

On Monday morning,, Kgokgome torched the shack, thinking that Malesa was dead. Dr Andrew Nkosi, testified in court that Malesa was alive when the shack was burnt, and that she had died of severe burns to her body.

Nkosi said she had burnt to such an extent that her stomach burst, and her internal organs were burnt. Her arms and legs, he said, were amputated as a result of the fire. She could not be measured or weighed due to the nature of her burnt body.

Kgokgome smiled to family and friends when he was escorted by court officials to the holding cell.

ANA