VANDERBIJLPARK – From pleading guilty on his very first appearance, to appointing a lawyer who applied for bail on his behalf, and later abandoning the request.
These are the flip-flops that have played out in Kutlwano Shalaba’s mystery kidnapping and murder case since the arrest of a 50-year-old sangoma.
On June 25, Sebokoana Khanyane told the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate’s Court that he would no longer pursue his bail request.
The Lesotho national appeared briefly where he faces charges of premeditated murder, human trafficking of two-year-old Kutlwano Shalaba and being illegally in the country.
Khanyane is accused alongside Keneilwe Shalaba (32) the mother of the toddler.
She faces charges of premeditated murder, human trafficking, conspiracy to commit robbery, and making a false statement to the police.
According to NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana, it is alleged that on November 10 2024, the mother of the child took the child to the sangoma and requested him to kill her child because she was not happy with the gender of the baby and was tired of hiding from her family that the child was a girl.
“The mother then allegedly fed the baby poison, and after the baby died, it is alleged that the two took the child and buried the body in a shallow grave in Waterpan in Bekkersdal,” said Mahanjana.
Dressed in a black polo neck and skinny jeans, Keneilwe held back tears as the magistrate confirmed that they would remain behind bars.
Mahanjana confirmed that the duo will return to court on August 6, while investigations continue to determine the results of the post-mortem report and DNA analysis.
