Mapaballo Borotho
- A Pretoria man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his younger brother over inheritance.
- The court heard that the crime was carefully planned and staged to appear as a road accident.
- Prosecutors argued the killing was driven by greed and jealousy, a view accepted by the court.
A family in Soshanguve, Pretoria, has been rocked by the death of one of their sons, who was killed by his older brother, allegedly over inheritance money.
Dineo Cambridge Baloyi was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his younger brother, Lethabo Baloyi. The Pretoria Magistrate’s Court also imposed an additional five years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit murder.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said the deceased and the accused 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,” said Mahanjana.
She added that the mother, who is also a 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.
Baloyi reportedly learnt that he was not listed as a beneficiary and that his brother stood to inherit all their mother’s assets. He then shared this information with his girlfriend, and the pair allegedly 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, and when he 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,” Mahanjana explained.
Following the incident, the girlfriend relocated to Thembisa and has not yet been traced by police.
Baloyi fled to Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga, where he was later arrested in an unrelated kidnapping case involving another partner and her child.
He later became ill while in custody and was hospitalised in September 2024. While in the hospital, he contacted his uncle and confessed to the murder of his brother, Lethabo.
In court, Baloyi pleaded guilty to the offences and asked the court to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentence, citing his children as dependants.
However, Regional Prosecutor Lufuno Manena opposed the request, arguing that the murder was motivated by jealousy and greed, and called for a life sentence.
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