Pretoria North court sentences man to life for killing his brother after discovering he was not an heir. Picture Credit: Facebook
By Aisha Zardad
Pretoria – Pretoria North Magistrates’ Court has sentenced 40-year-old Dineo Cambridge Baloyi to life imprisonment for killing his younger brother, 27-year-old Lethabo Baloyi, after discovering he would inherit their mother’s estate.
In addition to the life sentence handed down on Tuesday, the court imposed a further five years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit murder and declared Baloyi unfit to possess a firearm.
According to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana, the older brother found their mother’s will while she was deployed with the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). Baloyi was living with their mother in Soshanguve, while the deceased resided at SANDF barracks. After seeing that he was not a beneficiary and stood to gain nothing, Baloyi shared the information with his girlfriend and together they plotted to kill Lethabo.
On May 30, 2018, Baloyi and his girlfriend invited Lethabo to their mother’s home under the pretext of socialising. They laced his drink with poison, and once he lost consciousness they strangled him to death, prosecutors said.
“They placed the body in the deceased’s vehicle and deliberately crashed it along the R80 Mabopane Highway in an attempt to stage the murder as a motor vehicle accident,” Mahanjana explained in court.
After the killing, Baloyi’s girlfriend fled to Thembisa and has not been found by police. Baloyi escaped to Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga but was later detained on an unrelated kidnapping charge. While hospitalised in September 2024, he contacted his uncle and confessed to the murder.
Baloyi later made a formal confession before a magistrate in Mpumalanga and was arrested for the murder on September 9, 2024.
In court, Baloyi pleaded guilty and asked for a deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence, citing his children as dependants. However, Regional Prosecutor Lufuno Manena opposed this, arguing the killing was driven by jealousy and greed, prompting the court to impose the maximum penalty.
