Update

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - The man, Waydon Bezuidenhout (34), who was found guilty of the kidnapping and murder of Mawande Kondlo (46), was handed down a life sentence in the Knysna Circuit High Court earlier today, Friday 4 October.

Kondlo was a well-known figure in Knysna’s tourism industry and the owner of Wanda Tours and Stays.

Judge Patric Gamble said he could find no compelling reasons not to impose the maximum prescribed sentence for murder.

Gamble yesterday found Bezuidenhout, also well known in Knysna and the owner of a funeral parlour in Main Street, guilty on three charges of kidnapping, murder and defeating or obstructing the administration of justice.

Gamble said coming to this conclusion was not easy and he thought long and hard in making his decision.

It was a “horrible, pre-meditated crime” in which Kondlo was held hostage, tortured, and brutally suffocated after being betrayed by his friend.

Gamble also sentenced Bezuidenhout to five years imprisonment on the kidnapping charge and four months on the charge of defeating or obstructing the administration of justice. These sentences will run concurrently with that of life imprisonment.

Kondlo's body was found by an off-duty police officer at Bokkoppie near the Uniondale Road (R339) on 17 January 2022. His hands and legs were bound with a cloth and he had sustained a wound to his head.

Bezuidenhout was arrested nine months later in August of that year after an extensive and intricate investigation by Knysna detectives in collaboration with Garden Route District Crime Intelligence and a private security company that monitors CCTV cameras in Knysna.
He was denied bail on Thursday 8 September 2022.

To date, even after a thorough trial was conducted, no real motive for the murder was uncovered.

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