Selani gets 3 life terms for the backyard murders of 2 men, her son

Three bodies stacked in a backyard grave ended with a mother handed triple life behind bars.

Triple life sentences in Pretoria

• Ncumisa Selani received three life terms from the Pretoria High Court.
• Judges tied the convictions to killings between 2016 and 2018.
• Her Pretoria home doubled as the burial site for every victim.
• Court remarks painted the acts as planned and deliberately covered up.

Boyfriends buried one over the other

• Michael Changisa, a Malawian partner, was the first to die in 2016.
• After learning she had HIV, Selani pointed the finger at Changisa.
• Michael Phiri, a Zimbabwean boyfriend, was roped in to carry out that hit.
• Phiri later landed in the same grave, stacked above Changisa.

Son was killed, and the crimes were exposed

• Her 17-year-old son was killed in 2018.
• Prosecutors said the teen had started using drugs and demanded money.
• Threats to spill details about the earlier killings sealed his fate.
• A younger son revealed the grave in 2020, which led police to the remains.