"There will be a movie today" These are the chilling words by a father, and no one took him seriously because he was drunk. The father, Nhlanhla Buthelezi would return later to his baby mama's house and kill his four-year-old son in the street. Yesterday (Tuesday) the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Local Division in Johannesburg sentenced the 34-year-old Buthelezi to life imprisonment for the murder committed a year ago.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindile Mjonondwane said that on the morning of 2 September 2022, the accused went to his girlfriend Zamokuhle Ntuli's house in Snake Park in Soweto drunk. "The couple had a verbal fight and the accused uttered the words: "There will be a movie today" and left. Later that day he went back to the house where he found his son Bafana Ntuli with his aunt and siblings. He asked the deceased's aunt about the whereabouts of his girlfriend and left again. He shortly returned and took the deceased with him," said Mjonondwane.

Mahanjane further said that the accused dragged the deceased on the street and the aunt followed him and asked him to stop dragging the boy. "The accused stopped but stabbed the deceased several times with a knife. The aunt ran and screamed for help and the community responded. The accused fled the scene and left the deceased on the street. The community members went and looked for the accused and after some time, they found him and brought him back to the scene. Mahanjane added that the police were summoned to the scene and the accused was arrested," she said. State Advocate Allie Keith Mathebula, argued that the accused went to the deceased's place of residence on numerous occasions, saying a movie would be played, disputing the paternity of the deceased, carrying a weapon and that this demonstrates that the accused was in his sound and sober senses when he planned the commission of the offence. Mahanjane said that Judge Mncedisi Khumalo stated that an innocent child's life was taken, and no amount of remorse would ever bring him back. She said he further stated that no compelling and substantial circumstances would convince this court to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence for the crime he has been convicted of.