Boiled heart accused born in SA

File Photo: Clyde Robinson

File Photo: Clyde Robinson

Published May 15, 2014

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Durban - A Lesotho national accused of chopping up two people and boiling the heart of one of them was born in the Free State, the Durban Magistrate's Court heard on Thursday.

Lehlohonolo Joseph Scott, 26, said he lived in Ficksburg until he was 12.

“My father and mother were divorced and I had to go and live with my mother,” he told the court during his bail application.

Scott, who has been charged with two counts of murder and one of escaping from custody in Lesotho, faces extradition to Lesotho.

He told the court he wanted to continue with an information technology and computer science course at a Durban college.

Scott, who waived his right to a Sotho interpreter, told magistrate Vanitha Armu that most of his relatives lived in South Africa, including a sister and younger brother in Ficksburg, and an aunt in Carletonville.

He presented an abridged birth certificate to the court, which prosecutor Blackie Swart said was issued on the basis of a fraudulently obtained South African identity document.

Scott denied his identity document was fraudulently obtained.

The court heard he had obtained a bursary for his studies from the South African government. It was issued to South Africans and the officials verified his citizenship before he was given the bursary.

“South Africa is my home country. I intended studying. That was my dream. I have always dreamed of studying in Durban,” he said.

Lesotho Director of Public Prosecutions, Leaba Thetsane, said in an affidavit handed in at Scott's last court appearance that Scott and his mother Malehlohono Scott are charged with the murders of Moholobela Seetsa, 13, and Kamohelo Mohata, 22.

According to the affidavit, Seetsa was cycling on January 11, 2012. He never returned to his home in Koalabata village. Various body parts were found in a ditch a few days after he was reported missing.

Mohata, a first-year student from the same village, disappeared early in July 2012.

An sms was sent to Mohata's parents stating that he had gone to South Africa. Police were later tipped off about the Scotts' alleged involvement.

When they visited Malehlohono Scott's house, they found two arms and a leg in the back of a Corsa bakkie and testicles behind the seat.

Lehlohonolo Scott allegedly pointed out a knife used to stab Mohata, a wire used to strangle Seetsa, and a pot in which Seetsa's heart was apparently boiled.

Asked by Swart on Thursday if he was arrested in Lesotho or if he had escaped from prison, Scott replied: “I want to be silent.”

The bail hearing was adjourned to May 27, as magistrate Armu wanted to see the identity document.

Swart said it was with the investigating officer, who had been unable to attend the court proceedings due to a delayed flight out of Johannesburg.

Sapa

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