Lumka Mahanjana
NPA Regional Spokesperson
Gauteng Division Pretoria photo by Dimakatso Modipa
By Lumka Mahanjana
NPA Regional Spokesperson
Gauteng Division
The Pretoria North Magistrates’ Court has sentenced Dineo Cambrige Baloyi (40) from Soshanguve to life imprisonment for the murder of his younger brother, Lethabo Baloyi (27).
The court further imposed an additional five years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit murder and declared the him unfit to possess a firearm.
The deceased and the Baloyi were siblings who shared the same mother.
At the time of the incident, the deceased was employed by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and resided at SANDF barracks, while the accused lived with their mother at her home in Soshanguve.
The mother, also an SANDF employee, was frequently deployed outside the country.
During one of her deployments, the accused accessed his mother’s bedroom and discovered her last will and testament.
Upon learning that he was not a beneficiary, and that his brother stood to inherit.
He shared this information with his girlfriend, and together they devised a plan to kill the deceased.
On 30 May 2018, the accused and his girlfriend invited the deceased to their mother’s residence under the pretext of socialising.
They secretly administered poison to his drink. When the deceased lost consciousness, they strangled him until he died.
They then placed his body in his vehicle, which they deliberately crashed along the R80 Mabopane Highway in an attempt to stage the incident as a motor vehicle accident.
Following the incident, the girlfriend relocated to Thembisa and has not yet been traced by police.
Baloyi fled to Bushbuckridge,Mpumalanga, where he was later arrested for an unrelated kidnapping case involving another partner and her child.
While arrested he became sick and was taken hospitalised in September 2024.
While in hospital he contacted his uncle and confessed to the murder of his brother.
He requested that the investigating officer be informed, as he wished to formally confess.
The investigating officer travelled to Mpumalanga, where Baloyi made a confession before a magistrate.
He was subsequently arrested for the murder on 09 September 2024.
In court, he pleaded guilty to the offences and requested the court to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentence, citing his children as dependants.
However, Regional Prosecutor Lufuno Manena opposed the request and argued for life imprisonment, submitting that the murder was motivated by jealousy and greed.
In handing down sentence, Magistrate Nel agreed with the State’s submissions, stating that the Baloyi demonstrated a complete disregard for human life, noting that if he could kill his own brother, the danger to society was evident.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) welcomes the sentence, which affirms the seriousness with which the courts view violent crimes committed within families.
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