On October 14, 2007, two women, Elaine Anderson and Patricia Kippen, were shot dead in Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu-Natal, in what police believed were separate attempted hijackings. Elaine Anderson was 59 and had been a crime reporter for The Witness, the city's daily newspaper. Patricia Kippen was 39 and worked for First National Bank. Within weeks two men were in court charged with their murders: Sibusiso Derrick Duma, a 24-year-old taxi driver, and Simphiwe Khesi, who was 33. Both later pleaded guilty and were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Those two murders, both committed on the same night, are the only killings for which Duma is known to have been convicted. The state went on to charge him with 19 more offenses arising from five other incidents between September 9 and October 25, 2007, in Pietermaritzburg and Pinetown: five murders, four rapes, three attempted murders, four robberies with aggravating circumstances and three kidnappings. He pleaded not guilty to every one of them when his trial began in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in August 2009, and the killings charged at that trial remain the state's allegations.
Little is known of Duma's life before 2007. He was described as 24 when he first appeared in court in November 2007, and still as 24 when his second trial began in August 2009. The state's case in 2009 was that he was a taxi driver at the time of the first death in the series, working a minibus taxi with a conductor who collected fares.
The first incident in the state's 2009 case took place on September 9, 2007. Mqeku Zondi was a security guard employed by the provincial Department of Education and lived in the Plessislaer area of Pietermaritzburg. According to the evidence of Duma's conductor that day, Zondi hired the taxi in the evening for a fare of R20 and later asked to be taken further for another R20.
When Zondi got out, the conductor told the court, he said he had no money. The state alleged that Duma then struck him with the taxi and killed him, and robbed him of R50 in cash and of his service pistol, a 9mm Norinco. The pistol became one of the central pieces of physical evidence in the case: the prosecutor, state advocate Candy Kander, told the court that ballistic evidence would link the weapon taken from Zondi to a killing six weeks later.
The two deaths for which Duma was convicted came on the night of October 14, 2007, when Elaine Anderson and Patricia Kippen were shot dead in Pietermaritzburg. Police treated the two shootings as separate botched hijackings carried out on the same night.
In the weeks that followed, families in Pietermaritzburg and in Hillcrest were mourning a run of killings, rapes and shootings in the two areas, and police sources told reporters that the men arrested for the Anderson and Kippen murders might also be responsible for other attacks. A community information official in the upper highway area around Hillcrest said at the time that he knew of no link between the crimes there and those in Pietermaritzburg, though he said an arrest would be welcome news for the families.
Duma and Khesi both pleaded guilty to the murders of Anderson and Kippen, and each was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment. By July 2009 both men were serving those sentences.
The state's case on the remaining charges continued with two incidents in Georgetown, a part of Pietermaritzburg, on consecutive days. The state alleged that Duma raped and murdered Hlengiwe Shangase in Georgetown on October 19, 2007. Kander told the court that ballistic tests would show she had been killed with the pistol taken from Mqeku Zondi on September 9.
On October 20, also in Georgetown, two men, Masizane Mtshatsha and Thamsanqua Mbindwane, were shot dead and their car was taken. The state alleged that Duma shot them and took the car, and that fingerprints on it linked him to the crimes.
Later on October 20, according to the state and to Khesi's own plea, three young people were abducted in Imbali; two men were shot, and all three survived. Cellphones and cash were taken from them.
The last incident in the state's case was on October 25, 2007. Noxolo Dlamini was a teacher in Pinetown. The state alleged that Duma raped and murdered her in Pinetown on October 25, 2007, and robbed her of her cellphone.
On October 21, 2007, the day after the two men in Georgetown were shot, police found their car and lifted fingerprints from it. Police sources said those prints played a key part in identifying one of the suspects. By the first week of November, Duma and Khesi had appeared briefly in the Pietermaritzburg magistrate's court, charged with murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances in connection with the killings of Elaine Anderson and Patricia Kippen. Duma faced a further charge of illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition.
A third man was arrested after he was found with jewellery belonging to Patricia Kippen. He was not charged with the murders of the two women. The cases were adjourned and Duma and Khesi were remanded in custody until November 12, 2007. At that stage police sources were already telling reporters that there was strong evidence linking the two men to other violent crimes in the area, including the killing of a woman in Georgetown and the shooting of the two men whose car was taken.
In July 2009 Khesi pleaded guilty in the Pietermaritzburg High Court to robbery with aggravating circumstances and attempted murder, with other charges, arising from the Imbali abduction. In his written plea he said he was very remorseful and willing to testify against Duma at Duma's coming trial. He was to be sentenced the following day in the Durban High Court. A report the next month said that he had been sentenced to life imprisonment plus 40 years for the Imbali offenses.
Duma's trial on the 19 remaining charges began in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in early August 2009. He pleaded not guilty to all of them. Kander set out the state's case as five incidents: the death of Mqeku Zondi on September 9, 2007; the alleged rape and murder of Hlengiwe Shangase on October 19; the shooting of Masizane Mtshatsha and Thamsanqua Mbindwane on October 20; the abduction, robbery and shooting in Imbali later that night; and the alleged rape and murder of Noxolo Dlamini on October 25.
On the opening day the court heard from Duma's conductor on September 9, who described the fare dispute with Mqeku Zondi. The trial was then adjourned, to continue the following week. Duma was by then already serving his two life sentences for the murders of Elaine Anderson and Patricia Kippen.
The five incidents of 2009 were charged against Duma and denied by him; no verdict on them has been reported, and the killings in them remain the state's allegations.
The reports differ on the date of the Imbali abduction. A November 2007 report placed it in the early hours of October 15, the morning after the Anderson and Kippen shootings. The state's case in 2009, and Khesi's own plea, put it on the night of October 20, after the car had been taken in Georgetown.
The reports also differ on the list of Khesi's second set of convictions: the July 2009 report and the August 2009 report give different combinations of charges.
Duma's age was given as 24 both in November 2007 and in August 2009.
In late 2007 police sources linked the two arrested men to a wider series of attacks around Pietermaritzburg and Hillcrest. The charges reported at his 2009 trial concern five incidents in Pietermaritzburg and Pinetown, and he denied all of them.
September 9, 2007: Mqeku Zondi is killed after a fare dispute; the state alleges Duma struck him with his taxi and took his pistol.
October 14, 2007: Elaine Anderson and Patricia Kippen are shot dead in Pietermaritzburg in separate attempted hijackings.
October 19, 2007: Hlengiwe Shangase is killed in Georgetown, Pietermaritzburg; the state alleges Duma raped and murdered her.
October 20, 2007: Masizane Mtshatsha and Thamsanqua Mbindwane are shot dead in Georgetown and their car is taken; later that night three young people are abducted in Imbali, two men are shot, and all three survive.
October 21, 2007: Police find the car and lift fingerprints.
October 25, 2007: Noxolo Dlamini, a Pinetown teacher, is killed; the state alleges Duma raped and murdered her.
Early November 2007: Duma and Khesi appear in the Pietermaritzburg magistrate's court charged with the Anderson and Kippen murders; remanded to November 12.
By July 2009: Both men have pleaded guilty to the Anderson and Kippen murders and are each serving two life sentences.
July 2009: Khesi pleads guilty in the Pietermaritzburg High Court to robbery with aggravating circumstances and attempted murder, with other charges, over the Imbali abduction; later reported sentenced to life plus 40 years.
Early August 2009: Duma's trial on 19 further charges opens in the Pietermaritzburg High Court; he pleads not guilty to all of them.