Muthi killers await sentence for beheading

THE family of Nawaaz Khan is expected to witness the sentencing of the man who beheaded him at the High Court in Pietermaritzburg today.

The man and his accomplice were yesterday convicted of the murders and beheading of local cricketer Khan and another victim, Bawinile Albertina Gambushe, for their body parts in separate incidents in 2015.

Thandokwakhe Duma, 21, a traditional healer, was found guilty of killing and beheading Khan, and for robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping, theft and as- sault. He was acquitted of the murder of Gambushe.

His co-accused, Ellias Sihle Mchunu, 41, was found guilty of both the murders of Khan and Gambushe, theft, kidnapping and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Khan, 23, of Gandhinagar in KwaZulu-Natal, left home on October 31 in 2015 to meet friends but never returned. He used to work as a conductor for a long-distance trucking company.

Duma and Mchunu lured Khan to a forest near the Isonti area where they attacked him with an axe and beheaded him, according to the State. His belongings, including his two cell- phones and his pair of takkies, were sold by the accused.

The primary motive for the killings was to get body parts from the deceased.

Key state witness Mveliso Ngidi, who was arrested but turned state witness, had admitted he had pointed out the place where Gambushe’s body was buried and where the head was after he was shown by Mchunu.

According to Ngidi, Mchunu had told him that they needed the head of an Indian man to make muthi that would prevent them from being shot.

Judge Rishi Seegobin found that the evidence by the key State witness was true and reliable.