Johannesburg - No human sacrifices were needed to perform the Satanic ritual in which Kirsty Theologo died, the High Court in Johannesburg, sitting in Palm Ridge, heard on Thursday.
“I believe that without the burning of anyone, we could have sold our souls,” said Linden Wagner, the alleged mastermind of the ritual.
He said the burning of a “prostitute” was suggested by Lester Moody after he found a Bible verse to this effect in the book of Revelations.
“Kirsty could have been there when we discussed it,” said Wagner.
He told the court he had wanted to gain power from selling his soul, while Moody had wanted wisdom.
“The power was for us to be able to kill anyone who got into our way and wouldn't accept the mark of the beast,” said Wagner.
“I wanted power to be able to lift you up with my eyes and then throw you on the other side of the room if you didn't want to accept it.
“The wisdom was for Lester to be able to invent a chip and install it into people [so that we could control the world].
“When I heard of American artists selling their souls, it was something I wanted to be part of.... Like Tupac, Bone Thugs, and Snoop Dogg.”
He said all these singers claimed to have died and come back to life under Satan's power.
Wagner told the court that the talk of soul-selling arose from a rap song he and Moody had made up.
In one verse, Moody said: “If you want to know what we are talking about, all you have to do is burn two girls.”
Moody was prophesying, said Wagner.
“The reason why I say that is because, looking back, two girls were burnt and so Lester was prophesying,” he said.
In previous court appearances, Wagner said he hit Theologo, 18, on the head with a rock, doused her with petrol and set her alight on a hill in Linmeyer, Johannesburg, in October 2011.
Theologo died in hospital a week later. Her 14-year-old friend survived.
Wagner, Courtney Daniels, Harvey Isha and Robin Harwood, have pleaded not guilty to killing Theologo and attempting to murder her friend.
Moody and Jeremy King confessed to the crime and were each sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment, five of them suspended.
On Thursday, Wagner said that while he knew he would be selling his soul to the devil, he would not have described it as Satanism.
“We saw a newspaper that described it as Satanism and we went with that word to sum up everything,” he said. - Sapa