Magistrate steps down in triple murder trial of VIP unit cop

In a new twist in the trial of a senior police officer accused of a triple murder spree in Centane, the presiding magistrate has recused himself from the case.

Centane magistrate Barry Nel said the accused, Warrant Officer Ronnie Doko, and the three men he allegedly killed, had appeared before him in a civil matter over the ownership of a piece of land at Kwannontshinga, which has a church built on it.

Doko is accused of gunning down Nkosi Siyabulela Bushenge, 48, who was the headman of Kwanontshinga, Reverend Maxwell Mfundiso Citwa, 50, who ran the Christian Mission SA Church, and church member and businessman Lusanda Ntsompo, 48.

A fourth victim, 62-year-old church member Mthetheleli Koli, was shot and injured.

Doko faces three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.

The land has been at the centre of a long-running dispute.

The Dispatch reported that Doko and Bushenge had been members of Citwa’s church, but Doko broke away in 2018.

In 2019, he wanted Bushenge and the community to boot the church off the land and out of the village, saying the land was given to him personally by the headman and the village, and that he had merely leased it to the church.

After Bushenge and the community failed to resolve the land dispute between Citwa and Doko, it was placed before Nel as a civil matter.

NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said: “The resident Centane magistrate [Nel] has recused himself as he dealt with a civil matter of the accused.

“The bail application will now be heard by another magistrate.”

The matter was postponed to May 24.

Doko has hired veteran Mthatha lawyer Sithembele Mgxaji to defend him.

Village spokesperson Kwedinana Nteseyita said the recent killing spree was the second murder incident to rock the closely connected village of Kwanontshinga.

“This is the second gruesome thing following the killing in the early 2000s of seven women who were accused of witchcraft.

“One of the suspects in those killings was shot dead by police after he tried to attack them with a firearm, which took the number of people killed here to eight,” Nteseyiya said.

Last week’s slayings involving religion and superstition took Kwanontshinga’s death toll to 11.

Amaxhosa King Ahlangene Vulikhaya Sigcawu condemned the killings and sent his representatives to visit the bereaved families.

Ntsompo will be buried at Kumgwebi-kulotshazi village near Willowvale on Saturday.

Citwa will be buried at Scenery Park in East London on Sunday and Bushenge will be buried on May 24 at his great place at Kwanontshinga.

State security deputy minister Zizi Kodwa will visit the Bushenge family and talk to the community on Friday.

Kodwa had just visited Centane where he decried the high number of murders and rapes that have engulfed 44 villages policed by just one police station and two vehicles.

Kodwa praised the police for their quick response and arrest in last week’s triple murders.