Three life terms for Gauteng woman for killing her two boyfriends and son

The Pretoria high court on Monday sentenced Pamela Ncumisa Selani to three life terms for killing her two boyfriends and her 17-year-old son between 2016 and 2018. 

In 2016, Selani, 47, from Olievenhoutbosch in Centurion, and her then-partner Micheal Changisa, from Malawi, argued after she discovered that he had allegedly infected her with a chronic disease, National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said. 

Weeks after the argument, Selani asked her second boyfriend Gift Phiri, who lived in the same area, to help her kill Changisa at her home.

Phiri repeatedly hit Changisa with a hammer on his head in the presence of Selani’s two minor children and left him in the bedroom where he died, Mahanjana said.   

“After the incident, Selani and [Phiri] buried the deceased in her yard,” she said.

After Changisa was killed, Selani and Phiri lived together in the house she had shared with the deceased. 

“In 2017 while staying together Selani, conspired with her son Avile Jonjwana to kill [Phiri] because he was abusing her.” 

Selani and her son poisoned Phiri and held his head in water until he died. Afterwards, they buried his body in a shallow grave on top of the first victim.

Mahanjana said Jonjwana, who was addicted to drugs, started demanding money from his mother and threatened to report her to the police.

In 2018 Jonjwana chased his mother and his younger sibling out of the house, and they went to stay at her new boyfriend's house in the same area. Selani and her minor son returned to their house and Selani hit Jonjwana repeatedly with a hammer while he was asleep. Selani buried her son on top of the other two victims.

The secret came out in 2020 when Selani took her 14-year-old son to a traditional healer because he was not well.

“During the consultation with the healer, the 14-year-old told the healer about the killings.” 

Selani and her son were arrested on August 4 2020 when they returned home. The charges against the son were later withdrawn and he became a state witness. 

In court Selani pleaded not guilty, but the state proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

During the sentencing proceedings, through her legal representative, Selani asked the court not to impose the prescribed minimum sentence because she was a first-time offender. However, prosecutor advocate Eric Sihlangu argued that Selani showed no remorse for her actions as she still maintained her innocence even after being convicted.

Selani was also handed a five-year sentence for defeating the ends of justice.

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