South African Woman Pleads Guilty to Kidnapping and Murder of Five-Year-Old Boy

A South African woman, Sibongile Happiness Ngwadla, has pleaded guilty to kidnapping, murdering and attempting to extort money over the death of five-year-old Simphiwe Ntoneko Xaba. Ngwadla told the Durban High Court that she blamed the boy’s mother for introducing her to online gambling, which left her in debt. She admitted using a burner phone to demand R60,000 for the child’s release after abducting him in August 2025. She said she killed the child after police and community members began searching for him and his photograph circulated online. The boy’s mother rejected Ngwadla’s claim, saying the accused had borrowed her phone to gamble and that they had not been close before the kidnapping. The case was postponed for sentencing, while the child’s mother described the lasting fear and trauma the killing has caused her family.

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