A young life ended in an abhorrent and cruel manner, a family’s aspirations torn apart and the chilling conduct of the murderer who returned home afterwards to have sex with his girlfriend left a judge with no choice on Wednesday but to hand down the harshest possible sentence.

With nothing but a photograph to remember her by, Wendy Beyi’s mother, Lungiswa, 39, said she was happy with the life sentence imposed on the man who dragged the Port Elizabeth girl from one room to another as he bludgeoned her to death...