Headless woman murder case moved to high court

The trial of the five accused, Sibonekaliso Mbili, 32, a traditional healer, Vusumuzi Gumede, 30, and three minors, will resume on May 8, Rising Sun Chatsworth reported.

Murugan’s half-naked and headless body was discovered by municipal workers at the Shallcross Sports Grounds in Chatsworth, Durban in August last year.

At the time, crime scene investigators had alleged that her head had been severed with a blunt object, and that the murder had been committed elsewhere. The missing head was later found in Imfume.

Meanwhile, Murugan’s sister Jennet said her family were still trying to come to terms with the murder.

“Going to court is still very frustrating, especially when we have to see the barbaric faces of my sister’s killers. To see them with smiles and an attitude as if they did nothing is extremely painful for us,” Jennet said.

Jennet added her mother’s health has deteriorated due to stress, while Marugan’s son still has not been told how his mother died. She then went on to lambast bogus traditional healers and “criminals” who seek their help.

“The traditional healers turn out to be con men and women, and naive members of the community end up hurt because of this,” she added.

In January, postmortem results showed that a six-year-old boy from KwaZulu-Natal whose body was found disembowelled and decapitated had died of drowning.

He reportedly went missing while he and his mother were visiting his father, a traditional healer, in December last year. Police said the exact cause of the mutilation is yet to be confirmed.

– Caxton News Service