Man beheads wife for muti

Published Feb 13, 2013

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Mayfield, East Rand - A man has been arrested for killing his wife and cutting off her head in an apparent muti murder on the East Rand, Gauteng police said on Wednesday.

He was arrested when his wife's head was found in the bathroom and her body in the bedroom of their home in Mayfield, Daveyton, shortly after midnight on Tuesday, said Captain Alfred Nakana.

“He told the police that he wanted to take his wife's head to KwaZulu-Natal where it would be used to create a muti to make him rich,” said Nakana.

The man was with his family at their RDP house on Monday night when he asked his three children to go to their rooms.

He then took his wife to their bedroom and stabbed her to death before using an axe and a saw to remove her head.

Manaka said the couple's 15-year-old son snuck out of the house and told patrolling police what was happening.

“The police immediately rushed to the scene and found the body of a woman wrapped in a plastic,” said Nakana.

They also found that a hole had been dug in the backyard, presumably where the man intended burying his wife's body.

Police took the tools which appeared to have been used to kill and dismember the woman.

The children were taken for counselling.

Nakana said the man would appear in the Benoni Magistrate's Court on Thursday.

Describing the crime as one of the most barbaric he had encountered, Ekurhuleni mayor Mondli Gungubele said harsh action should be taken against the man.

“What is this world coming to when you have people who can do such crazy things against another human being, especially the one person who has given you children and you claim to love?” he asked.

He called for calm in Mayfield and urged the community not to take the law into its own hands. - Sapa

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