Loner murder accused may plead guilty

The black killer accused of killing and robbing Marie Thorpe, the reclusive, award-winning author whose decomposing body was found in her Umbilo flat last month, is expected to plead guilty next week.
Twenty-three-year-old Olwethu Ngwenya appeared briefly in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
He was arrested last week after a police search led to the Dalton area, close to Thorpe’s Umbilo Road flat.
Last week, he told the court he had abandoned bail and had intended to plead not guilty to murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
According to the charge sheet, a fridge, money and jewellery were listed among the stolen items.
He has now changed his mind and was expected to plead guilty.
Thorpe’s body was discovered by Mbekeleni Mwandla, the cleaner at Premier Court, where they had both lived since the 1970s.
A stench from Thorpe’s flat led Mwandla to open the unlocked door, where he found her body in the lounge.