Murder suspects nabbed

Three men appeared at the Magudu Magistrates’ Court on Thursday last week on charges of murder.

Thulani Mncube (36), Bhekizenzo Khumalo/Dlamini (29) and Phakamani Mncube (26) appeared for bail application and were taken into custody.

They will appear at Louwsburg Magistrates’ Court on 15 June 2015 for the continuation of their bail application.

On May 3 this year, Vryheid Crime Intelligence (VCI) members received information about a possible murder case at Esidakeni in the Magudu area just outside Vryheid.

This was after human teeth, clothes, empty cartridges and a cellphone were found on the side of the road at Magudu.

A joint operation by VCI and Magudu police was conducted and this led to the discovery of an unidentified male’s body in a shallow grave with gunshot wounds not far from where the teeth, clothes, cartridges and cellphone were found.

It is suspected that the deceased was kidnapped at Mondlo area and taken to Magudu where he was allegedly killed.

The victim was later identified as Siboniso Mbatha (32).

A case of kidnapping and murder was opened for further investigation.

Three weeks later detectives made a breakthrough when the firearm that was used to kill the victim was recovered.

This led to them finding the vehicle suspected to be used to convey the corpse. The bloodstains, which were found in the vehicle, matched those of the victim.

The KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni applauded police on their excellent work in investigating and apprehending the suspected killers and urged the community to continue to work with police to fight and report crime.

“We hope that the accused will be convicted and receive a befitting sentence for their inhumanly crime. We are awaiting for ballistic report on the recovered firearm to ascertain if it was used in the killing or any other crime,” she said.