Moses Ngonhamo,40, and Praisegod Buthelezi 31, were sentenced to life in imprisonment by the Benoni regional court on Friday after they were found guilty of stabbing to death Noqayisa Tshwane and her 28-year-old son Jefferson Johnson in June last year. Mother and son's badly mutilated bodies were found dumped in the bushes outside Vosloorus. Police arrested  Ngonhamo after weeks of investigation. Tshwane's other children, Noleen and Ntlonelo, said they were happy with the sentence. "It won't bring our mom back, it won't heal our hearts because of the trauma of knowing they died begging for their lives but we have found closure," said Noleen.

Magistrate Ian Cocks lashed out at the two men during sentencing, describing the killers as heartless and brutal to have killed the two in such a manner. "It's shocking that you kept dead silent and helped police search for the killers while you knew you had killed them and disposed of the evidence," he said. Cocks said forensic evidence presented before the court throughout the trial indicated that Ngonhamo went all out to destroy the evidence. "They killed the mother and son by stabbing them over and over until they died. Then went to hire a car from a man who ran a car wash and moved the bodies from the murder scene and dumped them where they couldn't be found," said Cocks.

He said a witness from the car wash testified that the two returned the vehicle with blood and he refused to wash it. "Anyone knows how blood smells and looks like. We cut ourselves and bleed all the time so he knew it was blood and you both denied it and misled the court to pursue your useless course, "the magistrate added. Cocks said Ngonhamo pleaded not guilty knowing well that he sold the truck in KwaZulu-Natal hoping it would never be found. "The officers and detectives and prosecutors worked tirelessly to connect all the dots. All the evidence pointed back at you. So with that said. I sentence you to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of the two deceased. "I hope these two will somehow use this opportunity of incarceration to have a change of heart and find rehabilitation."