Mystery of student’s murder
Cops accused of ruining evidence before man was found dead
THE family of Philasande Sompethu, a third-year nursing student whose body was found some 10km from where the car he was last seen driving was found, yesterday accused police of tampering with evidence.
They said the Toyota Avanza taxi he was driving part-time was given back to its owner along with his belongings.
The body of Sompethu, 25, of Mdantsane NU2, who went missing last week, was found by municipal workers yesterday morning dumped at Amalinda Forest.
Sompethu, a final-year nursing diploma student at Lilitha Nursing College based at Frere Hospital who had been staying at the nurse’s residence at the hospital in Amalinda Main Road, was also a part-time taxi driver.
The family claimed that no fingerprints were taken from the car before it was returned to its owner, only known as Mike.
“He immediately started using that car on the same Sunday ferrying people while Phila was still missing.
“The South African Police Service have failed us and now there is no hope that we will ever find the killers of our dearest family member,” Sompethu’s fuming aunt Nozuko Mqguba said.
The police also allegedly gave Sompethu’s personal belongings – including a cellphone, identity book and wallet with bank cards – to the owner of the vehicle.
The belongings had been inside the car, which was undamaged with its keys carefully put under the driver’s seat. The car was not locked.
“When we questioned them [the police] for giving away the evidence without [allegedly] taking fingerprints, they just told us that they took pictures of the car before giving it to its owner,” Mgquba claimed.
Sompethu’s uncle Themba Mgquba, who identified his nephew’s body, said he found him half naked with “strong” plastic tied tightly around his neck and a stab wound on the side of the body.
“He was only wearing maroon chinos without any shoes, but what I could see is that he was strangled with the plastic.”
According to Eastern Cape health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo, Sompethu’s body is being kept at the Woodbrook government forensic pathology facility in West Bank.
Earlier yesterday, Mdantsane police spokesman Captain Nkosikho Mzuku said a postmortem would determine the cause of death.
He said Sompethu’s body was found a day after East London Fleet Street police found the Toyota Avanza abandoned at Arcadia Cemetery near Buffalo Park Cricket Stadium.
“He was reported to us as missing on Monday after his vehicle was found at the cemetery on Sunday,” Mzuku said.
A murder docket opened, he added.
Mzuku could not be reached last night regarding the family’s allegations.
Sompethu leaves behind a threeyeardaughter, Silindokuhle, his mother, Nontozakhe Sompethu, 49, older sister, Noloyiso, 30, and niece Liyabona, aged 12.
“This has devastated family so much.
“We don’t know how to break the sad news to his girlfriend, who will now raise his daughter alone,” Mgquba said. — had the been entire