Update

GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - Nomphelo Maloyi and Lwazi Kay, known as the insurance killers, were found guilty as charged in the Makhanda High Court on Friday 12 July.

Murder mastermind, Maloyi and her accomplice, Kay, were convicted of the premeditated murder of Maloyi's 66-year-old uncle, Mynhardt Maloyi, whose body was found inside his house in Henry Street in uMasizakhe, Graaff-Reinet, with multiple stab wounds in November 2022.

Murder for money

At the time Maloyi approached Kay to kill her uncle because she wanted the payouts of two insurance policies - one from FNB for R150 000 and one from Sanlam for R15 000 - that she had taken out on his life. 

Kay agreed to kill her relative after she promised to pay him R20 000 as soon as she received the money.

Many bail hearings

Maloyi and Kay appeared in the Regional Court in Graaff-Reinet for the first time on 12 December 2022 and both were denied bail since it came to light that Kay had three previous convictions for theft in 2015 and 2016, while Maloyi had one previous conviction for theft in 2019. Residents gathered at court in their hundreds to protest against bail.

The two then applied for bail again in 2023 but the state opposed their applications, primarily based on the nature of the crimes committed.

Concerns relating to the safety of the public and the investigating officer, Monwabisi Morley, who was called as a witness for the prosecution, were also put forward.

After several postponements of their bail hearings, both were finally denied bail on 23 June last year, and they remained in custody.

Sentencing

Regional Spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, Luxolo Tyali, says sentencing proceedings will commence on 12 August in the Gqeberha High Court.

The duo can expect long sentences as the Makhanda High Court recently sentenced the four accused in a case of the same nature to life imprisonment plus 15 years for the murder of a man and the attempted murder of his girlfriend. 

Their accomplice, who was a minor at the time, was sentenced to an effective 25-years for murder, attempted murder and rape.

Payout murders on the up

The court noted that insurance payout murders are spiralling out of control – not only in the Eastern Cape but countrywide – and that courts have a duty to impose sentences that will deter potential perpetrators.

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