Beheading case: bail bids abandoned

Promising cricketer Nawaaz Khan.

Promising cricketer Nawaaz Khan.

Published Nov 25, 2015

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Durban - In less than a week a traditional healer and his accomplice accused of beheading an intellectually impaired cricketer, have abandoned their bail application in a second case in which they are also accused of beheading their victim.

Sihle Mchunu and Thando Thandowakhe Duma appeared along with security guard Mveleso Eric Nqini in the Umzinto Magistrate’s Court on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast on Wednesday.

According to a short statement from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the three abandoned their bail application in the case in which they are accused of beheading 39-year old Albertina Gambushe.

Last week Thursday Mchunu and Duma abandoned their bail application in connection with the murder of cricketer Nawaaz Khan, who was also beheaded.

Nqini has not been charged in connection with Khan’s murder.

It is alleged that Duma, a friend of Khan, lured Khan from his home in Umzinto’s Gandhinagar area to a secluded area in a forest where he and Mchunu then hacked him to death before beheading him.

The headless body of Khan, who was reported missing on October 31, was found on November 9 in the local Isonti woods. Khan’s head was found at a gumtree plantation in Ellingham near the N2, next to the coastal town of Park Rynie.

Nqini, who was arrested after Mchunu and Duma, then led police to the headless body of a woman, located in some bushes near the Gandhinagar area - the same area where Khan lived.

He is also alleged to have led police to another area where crushed bones were recovered

Forensic tests are being carried out to determine whether the crushed bones are in fact those of Gambushe.

All three are expected to appear in court on December 14 in connection with the two cases, while Mchunu also faces an additional charge of kidnapping.

Last week, police spokesman Brigadier Jay Naicker said that after Mchunu was arrested, another person came forward, claiming he had been kidnapped by Mchunu, prior to Khan’s disappearance. The victim, also from the Umzinto area, managed to escape.

African News Agency

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