Qhamani Nqayi, 29, has been sentenced to an effective 30-year prison term for killing his grandparents to feed his drug addiction.

The sentence was handed down by the High Court of South Africa, Eastern Cape Division, in Bhisho.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said Nqayi made a plea and sentencing agreement with the state and was sentenced to 25 years for each of the two charges of murder, 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances, and three years for housebreaking with intent to rob.

The judge ordered some of the sentences to run consecutively.

"In his plea explanation, Nqayi admitted to bludgeoning his grandfather and grandmother, Mlungisi and Nomboniso Nqayi, to death with an axe at the homestead they shared in the Chatha location," Tyali said.

On that tragic evening, Nqayi was with the elderly couple, his uncle, and another two-year-old granddaughter when the electricity went out due to loadshedding. They left the grandparents in the main home and went to sleep in their rooms outside.

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He broke into the main residence during the night to grab the couple's smartphones. While inside the house, the grandparents woke up and saw him.

"He then decided to kill them with an axe. He proceeded to steal their cellphones and took them to a known local drug dealer in return for drugs that he smoked and returned to sleep at home. His uncle, the son of the deceased, made the gruesome discovery of his lifeless parents the following morning, with the toddler-granddaughter sitting next to them.

"The killer-grandson was sitting next to his outside room, motionless, saying nothing. The uncle summoned relatives and community members, and a bloodied axe was found inside the house."

Police were contacted, and the culprit was arrested. Despite Nqayi's confessions, State Advocate Nkululeko Mzinyati said that both deceased individuals were elderly, unarmed, and defenceless, and were meant to be safeguarded by their grandson. He noted that drug-related crimes were common and dangerous.

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Drug addicted man sentenced to 30 years for brutal murder of grandparents