A well-known cross-border transporter, better known as umalayitsha from Lupane and his son have been arrested and charged with murder after they fatally assaulted his son-in-law.
Sikholiwe Nkomo (49) of Menyezwa village and his son Carlton Nkomo (18) teamed up against David Ncube (24) of Gumede village under Chief Mabhikwa and beat him up claiming he was disrespectful by being in the same bar with his in-laws.
The duo had found Ncube in the company of three others sitting in a bar and started poking him.
The now-deceased tried to avoid his in-laws by leaving the bar and later running away but the two followed and assaulted him.
Ncube died moments later after being hit with a brick on the forehead and stabbed with a knife on the chest.
Nkomo and his son appeared before Lupane magistrate Ndumo Masuku and were remanded in custody until 12 January.
They were not asked to plead to a charge of murder and were advised to apply to the High Court for bail.
For the state, Zandile Ndebele said the murder took place on 23 December at night.
“On 23 December at around 11:30 pm, the now deceased was at Cross Jotsholo shops in the company of Pride Ncube, Prince Ncube and Sydney Mpofu on a drinking spree.
“The two accused found the deceased sitting inside the bottle store and started poking him saying he was ill-mannered as he was rubbing shoulders with his father-in-law,” said the prosecutor.
Ncube is reportedly co-habiting with Nkomo’s unnamed daughter and has not paid lobola which angered the two accused.
Sensing danger and in an attempt to avoid his in-laws, Ncube left the bar in the company of Mpofu and went to sit outside on some benches.
Nkomo followed and grabbed him by the collar as he dragged him away from the shops while calling out his son to come and assault him.
Ncube briefly managed to free himself and tried to run away but Carlton gave chase and outpaced him.
