A South African lawyer, Thubelihle Sbonakaliso Mpisi, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his girlfriend, Mahlako Malebo Rabalao, whose charred remains were found inside her Mercedes-Benz in Midrand, Johannesburg.
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The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg sentenced Mpisi on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, after finding him guilty of murder, malicious injury to property and defeating the administration of justice.
Rabalao, a 26-year-old IT specialist and mother of a three-year-old boy, was found dead in her burnt Mercedes-Benz on March 9, 2023, near the Midrand home she shared with Mpisi. She was reportedly planning to end the relationship and move out of the apartment before she was killed.
The National Prosecuting Authority said Senior State Advocate Michelle Bayat successfully argued that although medical experts could not determine the exact cause of death because of the extensive burning of the body, the evidence established beyond reasonable doubt that Rabalao had died before the fire was started.
The court accepted the prosecution’s case that Mpisi murdered Rabalao before setting her body and vehicle ablaze in an attempt to destroy evidence and conceal the crime.
The State relied on cellphone records, forensic evidence, expert testimony and Mpisi’s conduct before and after the incident to secure the conviction.
Evidence before the court showed that Mpisi and Rabalao were in an intimate relationship, and that Rabalao had told relatives and friends that she intended to leave him and move out of their shared home.
Mpisi, who was 30 at the time of the incident, was arrested in KwaZulu-Natal on July 28, 2023, after a four-month investigation. He abandoned his bail application and has remained in custody since his arrest.
Before his arrest, Mpisi had publicly mourned Rabalao on social media, expressing shock and grief over her death.
“Rest in peace, my love. The pain I’m in is so deep. I don’t know where to begin to start picking up the pieces. How do I raise Beanie ungekho?… I thank God for giving me the time we’ve shared together; nothing can ever take that away,” he wrote in a Facebook post on March 23, 2023.
He also thanked those who had supported him during what he described at the time as a dark moment.
The court held that the cumulative circumstantial evidence proved Mpisi’s guilt and sentenced him to life imprisonment for murder.
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