Life sentence for duo accused of vicious murder

Khangelani Fafa Radebe (41) and Lungisani Dlamini (30) will spend the next 25 years behind bars.

They were both sentenced to life imprisonment in the Estcourt Regional Court recently on one count of murder, plus two years for defeating the ends of justice.

Additionally, they were declared unfit to possess firearms. On January 10 last year, Estcourt police were informed of a body that had been found in a stream in the Frere area. Officers established that the deceased, who was a female, had been in the water for some time.

The injuries she had sustained could not be easily identified at the scene. However, information from the community suggested that the deceased had been assaulted at a certain household in Frere about five days before the discovery.

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Detective Sergeant MI Ntuli from the Serious Crimes team was on scene and leapt into action by working with the information he had gathered at the crime scene. He went in search of the deceased’s boyfriend, who was now a suspect.

The boyfriend worked at a nearby filling station, but it was discovered that he had already left. Thorough detective work and determination resulted in the arrest of Radebe and Dlamini a short while later. Investigations revealed that Radebe was the lover of the deceased and that Dlamini worked as a security guard at a local tavern, which was in the yard in which Radebe lived.

It was further revealed that the tavern owner harboured a suspicion regarding the deceased. She suspected her of practicing witchcraft.

She arranged that the deceased be brought to Frere from Estcourt, where the accused were convinced to assault her for hours on end. It is believed that the woman endured a beating that lasted over seven hours.

After succumbing to the injuries sustained, she was bundled into a ‘comforter’ and thrown into the stream.

The accused and their ‘master’ continued with life as normal, until the deceased was discovered. An enquiry was held late last week, in which it was stated that the tavern owner will be charged for her role in the crime.

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