Asande Baninzi
Pollsmoor Correctional Center
Private Bag X54
Tokai, 7966
South Africa
Death toll 18
Baninzi has been handed a life term for each of the 14 murders he confessed to have committed during a spate of hijackings between June and August 2001, when he was 18. He was also given life sentences for various rapes. Mthutuzeli Nombewu, Baninzi’s accomplice, committed suicide to escape arrest. Jonathan Morris, the investigating officer, testified that Baninzi said he had trouble sleeping because of all the murders he committed. Baninzi is already serving four life sentences and a further 67 years in connection with the murder of a Delft family in August 2001. Yesterday he was found guilty of 51 charges. Abe Motala, a presiding judge over the case, said he failed to understand what had driven Baninzi to commit such crimes.