Muthi killer gets 4 life terms

Cruel uncle goes down crying after sentencing

A man who stabbed four siblings to death and cut off their ears, burst into tears when he was sentenced to four life-terms in prison by the KwaZulu-Natal High Court yesterday.

Ben Mbhele, 35, who was their uncle, fell down and cried uncontrollably as Judge Elizabeth Law read out the sentence in the court in Pietermaritzburg.

“The cruelty that was displayed during the killing cannot be explained. It was too vicious, especially as it was committed by a relative who is expected to be their protector,” Law said.

As sentence was delivered the crowd in the public gallery broke into a round of applause, with tears rolling down faces of some of the deceased’s family members who occupied the front row of the courtroom.

The children, Lwandile, Lwandle, Bandile and Sphindile, aged between four and 12, were found dead, mutilated and with multiple stab wounds, inside their home in Ncukeni, Port Edward, on September 2.

Mbhele was arrested a few days after the incident at his home, also in Ncukeni, closer to where the children lived with their mother.

He pleaded guilty to murdering the kids and told the court he had delivered their ears to a traditional healer in Durban who had promised him a lot of money.

Earlier yesterday, during mitigation of sentence, Mbhele’s attorney, Pauline Andrews, read a statement on Mbhele’s behalf about how he had met a man he knew who told him of a plan to make “lots of money”.

“He told me that he will need human ears for a traditional healer in Durban,” Mbhele’s statement read.

The court also heard that the man told Mbhele about his sister, Silindile Mbhele, with whom the man used to drink at a local tavern, saying he was aware she had children and she usually left them home alone. He advised him to kill the kids to make money.

“I initially ignored him,” he said. However, he met the man again two days later and they hatched the plan to kill the children.

“Although he never indicated the amount of money that I would get, he was very convincing this time, and I agreed to go with the plan,” Mbhele said in a statement.

He added they met near his home and went to his sister’s house. They found the four watching TV and tied them up with a rope before taking turns to stab them. He said the man then cut off the children’s ears.

The man implicated by Mbhele was arrested but later released due to lack of evidence.

“The accused had a right to refuse killing his nieces but chose money over family. He deserves to rot in jail for what he did,” Law said.

“We must make sure that people who abuse and kill defenceless children spend many years behind bars.”

Outside court, Silindile, who was sobbing uncontrollably, said she would never forgive her brother for what he did.

“I’m a dead woman walking. A part of me died when he murdered my kids. They were everything to me and my own brother took all that from me.”