SHOCKING MURDER SENDS DINEO TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT, PLUS MORE…

The Pretoria North Magistrates’ Court has sentenced 40-year-old Dineo Cambrige Baloyi from Soshanguve to life in prison for the murder of his younger brother, Lethabo Baloyi (27).

Baloyi was also handed an additional five years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to commit murder and was declared unfit to possess a firearm.

The two men were brothers who shared the same mother. At the time of his death, Lethabo was employed by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and was staying at SANDF barracks. Baloyi, meanwhile, lived with their mother at her home in Soshanguve.

Their mother, also an SANDF employee, was often deployed outside the country.

According to evidence before the court, Baloyi discovered his mother’s last will and testament while she was away on deployment. When he realised that he was not a beneficiary and that his younger brother stood to inherit, he shared the information with his girlfriend. The pair then hatched a plan to kill Lethabo.

On 30 May 2018, the accused and his girlfriend invited Lethabo to their mother’s house under the pretence of spending time together.

While there, they secretly poisoned his drink. When he lost consciousness, they strangled him until he died. They then placed his body inside his vehicle and deliberately crashed it along the R80 Mabopane Highway, hoping to make it look like a car accident.

After the murder, Baloyi’s girlfriend disappeared and is believed to have relocated to Thembisa. She has not yet been traced by police. Baloyi fled to Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga, where he was later arrested on an unrelated kidnapping case involving another partner and her child.

While in custody, Baloyi became ill and was taken to hospital in September 2024. During his hospital stay, he contacted his uncle and confessed to killing his brother, asking that the investigating officer be informed.

Police travelled to Mpumalanga, where Baloyi made a formal confession before a magistrate. He was then officially arrested for the murder on 9 September 2024.