Nightclub cleaner faces 18 years for gay sex murder

A nightclub cleaner will be jailed for 18 years for murdering Irish charity worker John Curran. The murderer had allegedly rebuffed his victim’s sexual advances, says a Sunday Times report. Mitspa Oyoka stabbed Curran 26 times. He also hit Curran, a father and grandfather, with a frying pan. At his bail hearing in 2018, Oyoka said Curran had tried to rape him but he has since said this was untrue. ‘I admit that it was not necessary for me to act in such a manner,’ said Oyoka in a plea agreement in the Western Cape High Court last week, backtracking on his initial claim that he was acting in self-defence. According to the plea agreement, he will be sentenced to 18 years in jail when he appears again on 1 June. A postponement was granted after Oyoka requested time to inform his family in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Noting the aggravating circumstances of a ‘serious murder’, the agreement says Oyoka used ‘excessive violence’ and ‘acted out of greed’ by stealing Curran’s cellphone. Mitigating circumstances for Oyoka include that he is a first offender who has been awaiting trial since 23 November 2018.

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