A 40-year-old Soshanguve man has been sentenced to a life jail term for the murder of his younger brother.

Lethabo Baloyi, 27, was in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), following in the footsteps of their soldier mother. He was lured to his death by Dineo Cambrige Baloyi, who confessed after being arrested for a subsequent crime.

The Pretoria North magistrate’s court heard the siblings shared the same mother. The younger brother lived at the SANDF barracks, while the elder lived with their mother at her home in Soshanguve.

Their mother was frequently deployed outside the country. “During one of her deployments, the accused accessed his mother’s bedroom and discovered her last will and testament. He discovered he was not a beneficiary, and that his brother stood to inherit,” National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said.

“He shared this information with his girlfriend, and together they devised a plan to kill the younger man.”

The court found Baloyi demonstrated a complete disregard for human life, noting that if he could kill his own brother, the danger to society was evident

The pair invited him to a party at their mother’s home on May 30 2018. “They secretly administered poison to his drink. When he lost consciousness, they strangled him until he died. They then placed his body in his vehicle, which they deliberately crashed along the R80 Mabopane highway in an attempt to stage the incident as a motor vehicle accident.”

In the wake of the murder, the girlfriend relocated to Thembisa, Ekurhuleni, and has not yet been traced by police.

Baloyi fled to Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, where he was later arrested for an unrelated kidnapping case involving another partner and her child, Mahanjana said.

“While arrested, he became sick and was hospitalised in September 2024. While in hospital, he contacted his uncle and confessed to the murder of his brother,” she said.

He told the uncle to contact the police. The investigating officer travelled to Mpumalanga, where Baloyi made a confession before a magistrate. In court, he pleaded guilty to the offences but asked for a lenient sentence, citing his children as dependents.

The court found Baloyi demonstrated a complete disregard for human life, noting that if he could kill his own brother, the danger to society was evident.

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