News / Africa
Zim woman brutally killed for suspected ritual purposes in SA
15 May 2013 at 03:26hrs | Views
A 34-year-old Zimbabwean woman was brutally killed for suspected ritual purposes allegedly by her South African boyfriend at a village outside Makhado in Limpopo Province.
The woman identified as Rumbidzai Manyere reportedly disappeared from home on 16 March.
Her mutilated body was later discovered dumped in a bush with a missing arm, private parts while both eyes had been removed.
South African police spokesperson, Captain Maano Sadike told Chronicle yesterday that they have since arrested the boyfriend, Freddy Azwitamisi Tshikhudo (38) of Tshiozwi Village for murder.
According to media reports in the neighbouring country, Tshikhudo told the police that he had been promised R70 000 and a car by a local Indian couple for supplying the hand for muti purposes.
However, in a dramatic turn of events, charges against the Indian couple accused of being complicit to the gruesome ritual murder were dropped on Wednesday last week.
This was after the alleged muti murderer admitted to the police that he had lied about the couple's involvement.
"On arresting Tshikhudo, he confessed to us that the hand had come from the body of his girlfriend whom he had been hired to kill. He led our officers to the bush in the early hours of Saturday morning, where they found the mutilated and already decomposing body of the Zimbabwean woman," said Capt Sadike.
Police also found Manyere's clothes, which she was last seen wearing on the scene.
Capt Sadike said the woman was lured to the bush by her boyfriend on the pretext that they would be performing a prayer ritual for her. "The suspect lured the woman to the bush under the guise that they wanted to pray. However, after the couple had finished praying, the woman was ordered to undress, and when she refused, she was overpowered and killed by Tshikhudo before he removed the private parts," he said.
"Tshikhudo then went to the Indian couple's shop with the intention of robbing them. However, it looks like when his plan failed, he then waved a human arm in the shop to scare customers away.
"We suspect his intention was probably to loot the shop in the absence of the owners and customers. The statement that he was employed by the Indian couple to kill a woman for them was a fabrication."
On arresting Tshikhudo, police also found some of the body parts in his pockets.
He led police to the scene and the remains were taken to a local mortuary pending a post-mortem.
Manyere, who was a street vendor, was last seen on the morning of 21 March while on her way to Makhado town, carrying a blue bucket with peanuts.
The suspect appeared in Louis Trichardt District Court on Monday and was remanded in custody to 29 May.
The woman identified as Rumbidzai Manyere reportedly disappeared from home on 16 March.
Her mutilated body was later discovered dumped in a bush with a missing arm, private parts while both eyes had been removed.
South African police spokesperson, Captain Maano Sadike told Chronicle yesterday that they have since arrested the boyfriend, Freddy Azwitamisi Tshikhudo (38) of Tshiozwi Village for murder.
According to media reports in the neighbouring country, Tshikhudo told the police that he had been promised R70 000 and a car by a local Indian couple for supplying the hand for muti purposes.
However, in a dramatic turn of events, charges against the Indian couple accused of being complicit to the gruesome ritual murder were dropped on Wednesday last week.
This was after the alleged muti murderer admitted to the police that he had lied about the couple's involvement.
"On arresting Tshikhudo, he confessed to us that the hand had come from the body of his girlfriend whom he had been hired to kill. He led our officers to the bush in the early hours of Saturday morning, where they found the mutilated and already decomposing body of the Zimbabwean woman," said Capt Sadike.
Capt Sadike said the woman was lured to the bush by her boyfriend on the pretext that they would be performing a prayer ritual for her. "The suspect lured the woman to the bush under the guise that they wanted to pray. However, after the couple had finished praying, the woman was ordered to undress, and when she refused, she was overpowered and killed by Tshikhudo before he removed the private parts," he said.
"Tshikhudo then went to the Indian couple's shop with the intention of robbing them. However, it looks like when his plan failed, he then waved a human arm in the shop to scare customers away.
"We suspect his intention was probably to loot the shop in the absence of the owners and customers. The statement that he was employed by the Indian couple to kill a woman for them was a fabrication."
On arresting Tshikhudo, police also found some of the body parts in his pockets.
He led police to the scene and the remains were taken to a local mortuary pending a post-mortem.
Manyere, who was a street vendor, was last seen on the morning of 21 March while on her way to Makhado town, carrying a blue bucket with peanuts.
The suspect appeared in Louis Trichardt District Court on Monday and was remanded in custody to 29 May.
Source - chronicle
