News24.com | Murderer gets life in jail after throwing man out of apartment window, co-accused still on the run

• In 2018, Shaun Chabalala was lured to a flat in Pretoria; he was robbed and thrown out of a window by two men.
• On Monday, a 37-year-old man was found guilty of the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. 
• His co-accused is still on the run after being granted bail.

One of the men who murdered Shaun Douglas Chabalala in Pretoria has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, while his co-accused is still missing after being granted bail more than three years ago.

Chabalala was gruesomely murdered by two men who lured him to the notorious Tamboti apartment block in Sunnyside, robbed him and then threw him out of a seventh-floor window on 7 May 2018.

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Almost five years later, the Pretoria Magistrate's Court convicted and sentenced one of the men who murdered Chabalala.

A Nigerian national, Dumkele "Ekere" Onyeghani, appeared in court on Monday, where the magistrate, Thembinkosi Ndwandwe, handed down judgment.

Onyeghani, dressed in a black denim jacket and white shirt, stood in the dock, expressionless throughout the judgment, only shaking his head occasionally as Ndwandwe recounted the evidence.

Violent murder

The only eyewitness to the murder was Chabalala's business partner, Given Mzamane, who told the court that they were alerted to the sale of a luxury camera in Sunnyside, Tshwane, via the online advertising website, Gumtree.

They phoned the seller, who gave them directions as both men were travelling from Johannesburg and did not know Pretoria very well.

Once in Sunnyside, the seller sent them a GPS location, which took them to the Tamboti apartment block.

Onyeghani met them at the entrance to the apartment block and signalled for them to come inside. There, a security guard let the three men into the building and they used the staircase to get to the seventh floor.

Once they reached the apartment, the door was opened and the three men entered. As soon as they were in the apartment, another unidentified man closed the door.

When Mzamane confronted the man about closing the door, a struggle ensued as Chabalala was attacked by Onyeghani and another man.

Mzamane said the two men pushed Chabalala into an adjacent room, where they picked him up and threw him through the window.

Mzamane managed to get out of the flat and started running down the stairs, while the man with whom he had a scuffle chased him.

He managed to get out of the apartment block and saw Chabalala lying on the ground badly injured. Mzamane believed that Chabalala was already dead and ran to call for help.

When Mzamane and police returned to the apartment, the three men, including Onyeghani, were nowhere to be found and, instead, there was a woman sleeping in the one of the rooms.

On the run

Several months later, a Nigerian national, Obienna Greg Ofdegbuliwe, was arrested and charged with the murder of Chabalala.

After being granted bail of R3 000, Ofdegbuliwe went on the run after failing to appear in court in April 2019.

He is still missing.

Six months later, on 12 October 2019, police received a tip-off from an informant, which led to the arrest of Onyeghani.

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The arresting officer, Captain Simon Motolla, testified that Onyeghani had been hiding in a house in Pretoria West. A sting operation was conducted to arrest him.

While police surrounded the house, Onyeghani walked out and stood on the patio. He noticed the police and ran back into the house.

Police stormed the house, but could not find him. They secured the area and called in the K-9 unit.  With the help of sniffer dogs, Onyeghani was found hiding in the ceiling.

Convenient defence

Onyeghani conveniently blamed Ofdegbuliwe for the murder of Chabalala, alleging that he wasn't at the flat on the day.

Onyeghani said he and Ofdegbuliwe lived at the flat together – but, on the day in question, he received a call from his flatmate, who told him not to come home because his girlfriend and children were visiting.

Onyeghani testified that he was told about the murder from a woman who sold sweets outside the Tamboti apartment block.

He also hinged his defence on the fact that the State did not call the security guard, who let Chabalala and Mzamane into the apartment block.

Judgment and sentencing

Ndwandwe said that, because Mzamane was a single eyewitness, he had to carefully scrutinise the testimony as it could not be corroborated.

The court then noted that Mzamane had identified Onyeghani within three seconds in an identity parade, and that his version stood during cross-examination.

Ndwandwe accepted the testimony of Mzamane as true.

Rejecting Onyeghani's version, the court questioned why he went on the run and did not inform police of the murder, which he confirmed on his own version.

Ndwandwe said it was strange that Onyeghani hid from police in the ceiling.

The court found that the State proved Onyeghani was involved in the murder and robbery of Chabalala.

In terms of contravening the Immigration Act, the court found that Onyeghani was in the country legally on a permit at one point, but his papers expired and he continued living in the country illegally as he did not renew his permit.

The court sentenced Onyeghani to life imprisonment for murder and 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances.

For contravening the Immigration Act, Onyeghani was sentenced to 12 months behind bars, wholly suspended on the condition that he is deported once he has served his sentence for the murder and robbery.