Deacon relives killing of three Coptic monks
‘No child of God can do something like this to another child of God’
● Church deacon Johnson Munashe had barely woken up on Tuesday morning when he heard blood-curdling screams from downstairs at the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church’s St Mark and St Samuel the Confessor monastery near Cullinan.
As he rushed down, the horror of what he saw “will stay with me for the rest of my life”.
The body of his spiritual mentor, Father Takla El-Samouili, was lying outside the monastery building in a pool of blood. His throat had been cut.
There was more horror to come. The bodies of two other church members, Father Minah ava Marcus and Father Youstos ava Marcus, were lying in different parts of the property.
“Both were dead from multiple stab wounds,” a shaken Munashe told the Sunday Times this week.
Two members of the church have been charged with the murders.
“No child of God can do something like this to another child of God. Only a demonpossessed person can do this,” Munashe said.
“I was very close to Father Takla. He was my spiritual mentor. I was his driver and personal assistant. He raised me spiritually since I joined the church in 2009. It is a terrible loss. His murderers broke a piece off me which I will never recover.”
He said Takla had been mooted as a future bishop.
“We all had big dreams for Father Takla. There were no borders in the way he loved. From members of the church to residents of Cullinan and street people, even criminals — and everybody loved him back,” Munashe said.
The motive for the murders is still unclear.
“We can only say it must be something like jealousy that boiled over. We are waiting to see what unfolds in court.”
On Tuesday South Africa-born Coptic novitiate, Samuel ava Marcus, 47, was arrested. At the time there was believed to have been one survivor of the attack. Egyptian citizen Saeed Basanda claimed to have been struck on his left hand with a metal bar by the assailants.
He claimed he had fled and survived by hiding in one of the outside living units until the murderers had gone.
But on Wednesday, Basanda was also arrested.
The two men appeared in court in Cullinan on Thursday where the matter was postponed to March 22.
The three monks were allegedly killed with knives from one of the houses on the grounds of the monastery. Munashe said there were no signs of forced entry.
On Thursday, the Sunday Times visited the monastery about 50km east of Pretoria. Munashe pointed out the various sites where the bodies were discovered, and described how the events unfolded.
“I was still in bed just before 7am when I heard the main gate being unlocked. I had not yet even washed my face. Then the screaming started.
“They screamed my name and shouted I had to go out and see what they had found. Father Takla El-Samouili was lying outside the monastery building in a pool of blood. His throat was cut. The two other victims — Father Minah ava Marcus and Father Youstos ava Marcus — were lying in different parts of the property.”
There was a strong police presence on Thursday, with members of the K9 unit and forensic investigators going over the scene of the crime.
“We do not have phone signal here, so I drove to Cullinan police station and reported the murders,” Munashe said.
“The farm is about 50ha. The portion of the farm containing the church is solidly fenced off. The police dog units investigated the entire length of the fence and could not find any signs of forced entry.”
Parts of the suspected murder weapons were found on the scene.
“There was a butcher’s knife and a kitchen knife. Both blades were broken off and only the handles remained. The two knives came from one of the houses on the property,” Munashe said.
News of the murders spread quickly.
In the UK, Archbishop Anba Angaelos, of the London Coptic Orthodox Church, took to X on Tuesday: “Saddening and shocking news received of the murder of three monks
… in Johannesburg today ... Further details are awaited.”
In a statement released on Wednesday, the local leadership of the Coptic Orthodox Church said: “The Egyptian embassy has called upon all Coptic Orthodox Church members, both South Africans and Egyptians, to allow the law to take its own course, not to interfere with [the police] investigations.”
The monastery was built in 2007.
We can only say it must be something like jealousy that boiled over. We are waiting to see what unfolds in court Johnson Munashe