Flabba's killer to appeal on interpretation of self-defence

ARRESTED: Habedi's girlfriend, Sindi Manqele, has appeared in court in connection with his death.
Image by: Instagram/keflabba
Sindisiwe Manqele has applied for leave to appeal her murder conviction and sentence for killing her rapper boyfriend Nkululeko “Flabba” Habedi‚ insisting that she stabbed him in self-.


The application was made by advocate Norman Makhubela on Tuesday at the Johannesburg High Court‚ sitting at the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court.

Manqele‚ 26‚ was found guilty of murdering Habedi‚ 37‚ in December and sentenced to 12 years behind bars in March.

She claimed that she had acted in self- when she stabbed Habedi in the chest after the couple fought‚ but the court said that she had overstepped the bounds of self- and found her guilty.

Makhubela argued‚ however‚ that the court erred in its findings that she had exceeded the limits of self- and that she had acted with premeditation.

Makhubela said that Manqele was not aware that she had acted unlawfully when she stabbed Habedi and that her response was her only way to escape Habedi's “attack” on her.

Makhubela also said that the court had overemphasised the seriousness of Manqele's crime when it handed down sentence‚ saying she needed to be deterred from doing the same to future boyfriends and husbands.

“This finding is ill-conceived…[There is] no evidence that she was predisposed to violent conduct from the past.”

He said the court was wrong to suggest that Manqele has an “itching” to remove her future partners from society.

He added that a reasonable person would find the “excessive” sentence shocking.

But prosecutor Paul Schutte said that the court had not misdirected itself in convicting Manqele and that the sentence imposed was reasonable.

Covering her face with her signature scarf‚ Manqele was escorted into the court's police cells after proceedings had wrapped up. – TMG Digital