Ayanda Dayi was convicted in the Western Cape High Court of four murders committed in 2024 in two separate incidents: two men died in Dunoon on January 24 and two in Delft on May 16. A third man in Delft survived. On February 24, 2026 Acting Judge Van Leeve, sitting at Wynberg, sentenced him to four terms of life imprisonment and a further 102 years for the murders and the related counts. At the time of all of these offenses he was on parole from an 18-year sentence for rape, which was due to expire in July 2025.
The judge described him as extremely violent, showing no remorse and a complete disregard for human life. The prosecution told the court that he was a danger to the public and that his prospects of rehabilitation were poor. The case drew wide attention in Cape Town because the Delft incident had been recorded on camera and the footage spread on social media within days.
Dayi's earlier convictions began in 2002. On August 23, 2002 he was convicted of robbery and received a four-month sentence, suspended for four years. On July 16, 2007 he was sentenced to 18 years' direct imprisonment for rape. A further conviction for illegal possession of drugs carried a fine of R1,200 or three months, to run concurrently.
He was released on parole on April 17, 2018. The sentence was due to end on July 15, 2025, so the four killings took place in the last eighteen months of that term. The prosecution relied on this at sentencing and described the offenses as committed in blatant disregard of the law.
Eric Yaphi and Elvis Thembelani Cwethiso died in Dunoon on January 24, 2024. The court found Dayi responsible for both deaths. Cwethiso's vehicle was taken in the same incident, and it was this that gave rise to one of the two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The investigation was handled by the Western Cape Provincial Detectives' Serious and Violent Crimes Unit. At the trial the State led evidence connecting Dayi to this incident, and the court accepted it. For the Dunoon deaths he was convicted on two counts of murder, and the prosecution's sentencing submissions treated them as planned offenses.
On May 16, 2024 Xolani Gaji and Cebisile Mfundiso died in Delft. A third man survived. Police began investigating two counts of murder.
Recorded footage of the incident was widely shared in the days that followed. Police said it helped them identify two suspects, one of whom was Dayi.
Police said that a man aged 38 had been identified early in the inquiry but had evaded arrest despite repeated attempts to trace him. On June 16, 2024 officers arrested him in Delft. The arrest was announced on June 18, 2024, and police said that other suspects had not yet been arrested.
He appeared in the Bellville Magistrate's Court in June 2024, charged with two counts of murder, attempted murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances. He asked to be addressed in Xhosa and was represented by a Legal Aid advocate. The magistrate postponed the case to July 3, 2024 so that bail information could be obtained and so that the State could prepare a profile of the accused. He remained in custody in the Western Cape.
The case was transferred to the Western Cape High Court, which sat as a circuit court at the Wynberg Regional Court. The indictment covered both incidents: four counts of murder, one of attempted murder, two of robbery with aggravating circumstances, one of theft, and six further counts. The State was led by Senior State Advocate Esna Erasmus. The investigating officers were Detective Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Pretorius and Detective Warrant Officer Bradley Davids.
The State relied on the recorded footage, on identification evidence, including identification of Dayi by the survivor from a photograph parade on June 5, 2024 and again in court, and on expert and scientific evidence connecting him to both incidents. Dayi denied the charges.
The court convicted him on every count in February 2026. The conviction came about a week before the sentencing hearing.
Before sentence, on February 20, 2026, the National Prosecuting Authority said that it would ask for five life terms and 75 years' direct imprisonment. Advocate Erasmus argued that nothing before the court reduced Dayi's moral blameworthiness or made the prescribed sentences disproportionate, and that the aggravating features were overwhelming. She said that his record, his lack of remorse and his poor prospects of rehabilitation meant that the protection of society had to come first.
On Tuesday February 24, 2026 Acting Judge Van Leeve imposed life imprisonment on each of the four counts of murder. On the other counts it imposed 15 years for each of the two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, five years for theft, ten years for attempted murder and further terms on the six remaining counts, 102 years in all.
The judge called him a danger to society. The prosecution described the effect on the men's families as "a different kind of life sentence" of grief and trauma. The Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Nicolette Bell, and the provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile, both praised the investigators and prosecutors.
South African law prescribes minimum sentences for the most serious offenses. Section 51 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997 sets minimum sentences for the most serious offenses, including life imprisonment for certain murders, and a court may depart from the prescribed sentence only if it finds substantial and compelling circumstances. The Supreme Court of Appeal held in S v Malgas in 2001 that the legislature's sentence is the starting point and that a court departs from it only with weighty justification, though the court's discretion is limited and not removed. The prosecution in the Dayi case argued that no such circumstances existed.
Section 73 of the Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998 governs the length of sentences. For an offender serving life imprisonment for an offense committed after the relevant chapters commenced, parole or day parole may not be granted until at least 25 years of the sentence have been served.
Dayi denied the charges, and the court rejected that position by convicting him on all counts.
August 23, 2002: convicted of robbery; four-month sentence, suspended for four years.
July 16, 2007: sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment for rape.
April 17, 2018: released on parole.
January 24, 2024: two men die in Dunoon.
May 16, 2024: two men die and a third survives in Delft.
June 5, 2024: the survivor identifies Dayi from a photograph parade.
June 16, 2024: arrested in Delft.
June 2024: first appearance in the Bellville Magistrate's Court; case postponed to July 3, 2024.
July 15, 2025: date on which the sentence for rape was due to end.
February 2026: convicted in the Western Cape High Court.
February 20, 2026: State asks for five life terms and 75 years.
February 24, 2026: sentenced to four life terms and 102 years.