Durban - “In my career, I’ve seen many seemingly normal people do horrendous things. Sometimes, it’s easier not to wonder why.”
These were the thoughts of an expert witness who on Thursday testified before Durban High Court Judge Phillip Nkosi into “what was going on” in the minds of four women charged with the murder of an uMlazi teen.
The State alleged the women conducted an “exorcism” in which 15-year-old Sinethemba Dlamini’s intestines were removed.
Her mutilated body was discovered on the lounge floor of her K-Section home in March 2012.
Her aunts, Fundiswa Faku and Lindelwa Jalubane, as well as her cousins, Nokubonga Jalubane and a minor, who cannot be identified, are charged with her murder.
A fifth woman, Nonhlanhla Mdletshe, Sinethemba’s father’s girlfriend at the time, was also arrested and charged, but she has since turned State witness.
The Daily News reported in 2013 that Sinethemba’s father, Ntsikelelo Faku, had subsequently married Mdletshe.
According to the indictment, the women believed Sinethemba was a “devil worshipper” and, in a bid to “rid her of the demons”, the teen was forced to the floor and her intestines pulled out through her vagina.
During the trial, the court heard evidence that they were trying to extract a “code” from inside Sinethemba and that Faku was accused of removing the teenager’s intestines.
Judgment was to have been handed down on Thursday but Nkosi postponed after Brigadier Gérard Labuschagne, who held a a master’s degree in criminology and a PhD in psychology, gave his evidence.
Before this he had only encountered two other cases in which death was brought about in this way, Labuschagne said. One remained unsolved and the other involved a male serial killer.
He said the women were found to have been of sound mind, but he had considered the possibility that they had suffered mental illness.
He could not say whether or not Sinethemba’s death had been intentional.
Evidence presented to the court suggested the women thought Sinethemba would “wake up” after the “exorcism” was over.
He could not say why, at a certain point no one had brought a stop to the “exorcism”, but spoke about the fact that in a group people did things they would never normally do as individuals. He also said in a group, a leader would typically emerge and that in this case, that leader appeared to have been Faku.
He said members of a group were usually hesitant to be the first to oppose a leader.
In the past three years, Sinethemba’s ailing grandmother, Nokulunga Agnes Dlamini, 55, has been in and out of court, carefully tracking the case.
She had raised her granddaughter until two months before the teen was murdered, when Sinethemba went to live with her father in uMlazi.
“Sometimes I wonder if I did something wrong. If I’d known what was going to happen, I would never have let my baby go,” Dlamini said, weeping inconsolably outside court on Thursday.
“She wanted to be a doctor. She looked after me with my diabetes,” said Dlamini.
“And she was talented, she used to love to do my hair.”
Sinethemba’s mother died while giving birth to a second daughter and Dlamini raised both girls.
“The youngest misses her sister so much. It’s hard for her, she has trouble at school. She’s scared of everyone.”
She cautioned parents and caretakers to guard the children in their care with their lives. “Whatever you do, don’t ever let them out of your sight,” said the grandmother.
Daily News
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