TWO men will be spending many years behind bars after the murder of an elderly woman in Paarl last year.

Hilda Verster (93) of Hospital Street was strangled in her home last year during a robbery.

Her son, Francois, who had just arrived from Polokwane, came across the two men in the house. He was also attacked and stabbed repeatedly with a pair of scissors.

Audrey Dampies (25) and Clarence Jones (26), both of Chicago in Paarl, were arrested within days after the murder.

They were charged with murder, attempted murder, robbery and attempted robbery.

Dampies recently went into a plea-bargain agreement with the state during his trial in the Supreme Court in Cape Town. He was sentenced to 23 years’ imprisonment.

Jones appeared in the same court this week and was also handed down a sentence of 23 years, after a plea bargain.

Dampies and Jones explained in court how they broke into Verster’s house on 12 July last year while she was sleeping.

According to them she woke up and started to scream.

Jones admitted to holding her mouth and nose shut, while Dampies strangled her.