Durban - A man accused of attacking a friend with a bush knife and decapitating him for muti to mend his broken relationship with his girlfriend, visited the victim’s mother a week later, promising to help find her missing son.
But hours later, the 21-year-old – a friend of promising Umzinto cricketer Nawaaz Khan – allegedly broke down in tears and led an off duty policeman to a field in neighbouring Isonti where the cricketer’s headless body was found.
It would only be three days later that Umzinto detectives and forensic experts were able to recover Khan’s head at a gumtree plantation in Ellingham, adjacent to the N2 freeway in Park Reynie.
It is believed the accused, Thandowakhe Duma, consulted with a traditional healer, Elias Sihle Mchunu, 31, (nicknamed ‘Maak ’n Plan’) who requested an Indian human head to help solve his problems with his girlfriend and his family.
Both men allegedly lured Khan, who was intellectually impaired, to Isonti, attacked him with a bush knife and beheaded him.
His cellular phone, sneakers and clothing were taken.
Duma, who visited Khan’s mother a week later and promised to help find her son, was arrested and charged with murder. He appeared in the Umzinto Magistrate’s Court last Tuesday and the case was adjourned until Thursday.
Mchunu was also arrested and investigations led detectives to where the buried head was recovered. It was placed in several plastic shopping bags and was in an advanced stated of decomposition. The head was taken to the Park Reynie state mortuary where tissue samples were obtained for forensic analysis, and released to the family on Monday.
A third suspect, a security guard, was arrested in Umzinto last Thursday after he led police to bushes opposite Gandhinagar, the area where Khan lived, and pointed out the headless body of a woman.
He then led the police to another location in the vicinity where a plastic shopping bag containing decomposed crushed bones was recovered. Forensic tests will determine if the bones in the bag are those of the deceased woman.
The suspect, Mveliso Eric Nqini, 36, appeared in court on Monday and the case was adjourned to November 23. Police are investigating all three men in connection with Khan’s killing.
Khan’s mother, Zakia, put on a brave face when POST visited her on Friday. She spoke proudly about her cricket-loving son, his disappearance, Duma’s visit and learning how Khan had died.
“Nawaaz was humble and soft spoken. He was intellectually challenged, which meant he was a slow learner.
“After attending an Islamic school, he was enrolled at Schola Amoris school for children with special needs. What he may have lacked in the classroom, he made up for on the sports field,” she said with a smile.
“Nawaaz loved cricket and when he was little, he would give advice to others on how to play better. He lived and breathed the game.”
According to reports, Khan played cricket at a social level until 2003, when he was enrolled at Schola Amoris. In 2005 he started playing professional cricket for Saints Cricket Club and at provincial and national level for KAZNA-II.
He found himself playing a developmental role in the South African squad from 2010 until 2013, when he made the SA team.
She said Khan was a patriotic South African supporter.
His favourite cricketer and hero was Proteas Durban-born batsman, Hashim Amla. “In 2013, while at a national awards function in Johannesburg, not only did he win Cricket South Africa’s Intellectually Impaired Cricketer of Year trophy, but he met Hashim, who presented him with the award.
“The function was screened live on television but I was unable to watch it. I remember Nawaaz called me later and said ‘Mummy guess what, I met Hashim Amla’. He was on top of the world. It’s only then that I realised how talented he was. I felt so proud.”
She said a teacher who accompanied Khan to the function took a cellphone video of him receiving the award.
Zakia said Khan was selected to play at the Cricket World Cup in Australia for the intellectually impaired but was unable to attend due to financial constraints. His dream was to play for the Proteas.
She said that after Khan matriculated, he struggled to secure a job.
“It was hard for him to think and read invoices. But he found a job putting up fences, which he did for a year. Then there was nothing until he got a job six months ago as a conductor for a trucking business. He would travel to Umtata, Kokstad and Richards Bay with the driver. They were away a few days in the week. Although he enjoyed his job, he told me he feared for his life because he spent so much time on the road.”
Zakia last saw her son on Friday, October 30. “He was at my mother’s home. I arrived in the afternoon with cakes and he said he wanted a slice with cooldrink. My sister’s daughter took it to him outside. I thought it strange that he preferred to sit by himself than with us inside.
“Normally he would tell my mother he was leaving but he finished eating and left. When I arrived at my home at 9pm he was there watching TV. He said he needed money for ground fees for cricket.”
She said the following morning (Saturday, October 31), he left the house, while they were asleep. He visited a family friend briefly around 6.45am and told her he was going to meet a policeman at the nearby shopping centre and they were going to Durban.
“The friend said Nawaaz was wearing pants, a striped shirt and takkies. It was strange because he generally wore shorts and T-shirts.” She tried calling him over the weekend to find out where he was, but there was no response. “I assumed he went to work.”
She said she met one of the drivers Nawaaz worked with on Monday (November 2). “He said he had not seen Nawaaz and that’s when I began to worry.”
She continued to call his cellular phone, which went unanswered.
“Nawaaz received a disability grant, which he collected on the first of the month. So I called the offices on Thursday (November 5) to see if he picked up his money, but he had not. I then began to panic.
“Early on Friday (November 6), I went to the GJ Crooks Hospital. I thought he was in an accident. I went to the state mortuary in Park Reynie and called other hospitals. That’s when I reported him missing.” She said the driver she spoke to visited her home on Saturday morning.
“He said his colleague saw Nawaaz’s friend (Duma) in Port Shepstone trying to sell a pair of takkies (the same brand Khan wore). His face was apparently scratched.
“He told the driver he was in a fight with his girlfriend and needed money to return to Umzinto. But the driver went somewhere and when he returned, Duma was gone.”
Later that day, Duma arrived at Zakia’s mother’s home.
“He asked me what happened as the police were looking for him. He said he last saw Nawaaz on Saturday (October 31) from 9am to noon at the grounds in Gandhinagar and that Nawaaz did not go with him to Port Shepstone.
He even told me ‘don’t worry aunty, I will help you look for him’.” That, said Zakia, was the first time she had spoken to Duma.
She said an off-duty policeman, Khan’s friend, questioned Duma later that day and he (Duma) ended up crying. He allegedly told the policeman he would take him to where the body could be found.
They went to a reservoir in Gandhinagar. “But then he (Duma) refused to show the policeman the body. That’s when the officer called for back-up.”
Khan’s body was found.
Zakia was in Umkomaas at the time looking for son. “I got a call that a body had been found and was badly decomposed. I started crying because I knew it was my son.”
She only found out the following day (November 8) that her son’s head was severed from his body, and that a ‘traditional healer’ allegedly advised Duma that an Indian head was required to solve his problems.
Khan’s head was found on Tuesday evening (November 10).
“What kind of a heart did these people have to have done this?” she asked. “I want justice and that they get a life sentence. My son did not deserve to die like this.”
She believed a woman, whose headless body was found last week, was linked to her son’s case.
Khan was buried at the Umzinto Cemetery.
Local councillor Shamila Sookhraj said the incident had “shocked the entire community”.
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