Kamal Rashid has been jailed for 35 years for strangling an unknown man to death, putting his body in a car and setting the vehicle alight, to fake his own death before defrauding an insurance company and FNB of half a million rand.

Times Live reports that on Tuesday, Mthatha High Court acting Judge Noluthando Ndzondo, sitting in Sterkspruit, sentenced Rashid to 20 years for murder, and a total of 15 years for the three counts of fraud (five years for each). The report further says Rashid, now aged 58, has already been behind bars since 2012 after being denied bail. The Times Live says ahead of sentencing on Tuesday, Rashid admitted to the murder and apologised to both the American and South African governments.

He was believed to be dead when his burnt-out Volvo, containing the charred remains of a body, was discovered in 2011 in Sterkspruit, a small town in the Eastern Cape. He was arrested when he was found living in a Free State flat rented in the name of his wife, who was in the SA Air Force previously.

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