Nuns stare at the horror rapists
IXOPO nuns sat transfixed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court yesterday as they waited to hear what fate awaited two young men who had brutalised their fellow nun.
Gertrud Tiefenbacher left her Austrian home 20 years ago to succour and pray for the poor. Instead, at the age of 87, she was gang-raped, strangled and robbed by Mondli Shozi and Sibongiseni Phungula on April 19 this year at the Sacred Heart Home in Ixopo.
They pleaded guilty to robbing and raping her in the home, but not guilty to her murder.
The accused said in their confession that they had reconciled themselves to her death.
Prosecutor Sandesh Sankar called Ixopo district surgeon Dr Yusuf Bhana, who said that a towel and a bootlace were tied tight around Tiefenbacher’s neck to ensure that she died.
In response to a question by defence counsel, Zena Anaspasiou, Bhana said that he could not rule out that asphyxia was a possible cause of her death.
Anaspasiou asked Judge Nompumelelo Hadebe to postpone the case to today so that the accused could have time to consider whether they should testify.
In their plea they said they drank a bottle of cane and a bottle of brandy and, walking past the Sacred Heart Home, they decided to steal food from it. They said that they got a shock when they saw the nun in the building.
Shozi said he grabbed her from the back, that his right arm was round her chest and his right hand held her throat.
They pulled her into a bedroom. Phungula tied her hands with an electric cord and gagged her mouth. Shozi pushed her on the bed and raped her. Phungula than also raped her and they stole items worth more than R5 000.
Both accused admitted that their actions were unlawful.
The case continues today.