Bethlehem
A 33 year old man, Nta Bennet Mofokeng from the Lucia Farm district in Bethlehem in the Eastern Free State was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife, Matseko Mofokeng (28), who was brutally beaten to death with a rusted, sharpened steel pipe in view of other farm dwellers last year.
According to Thabo Mofutsanana Policespokesperson Warrant Officer Mmako Mophiring the sentencing was handed down on the 30 April 2025 by the Free State High Court sitting in a jam-packed Bethlehem court
The court heard that it was on Saturday, 2 March 2024, at about 23:25, the deceased person, Matseko Mofokeng, was seen hiding from her husband, Bennet Mofokeng, in front of another yard on the farm.
The husband came out looking for her. She ran away from him, but he pursued and caught up with her. The other farm dwellers saw him continuously beating the woman several times until she became unconscious.
She was later declared dead and the accused was arrested and appeared before the Bethlehem Magistrate Court on Monday, 6 March 2024. Since then, he remained in custody awaiting trial.
He was declared unfit to possess a firearm.