Four women and a 15-year-old minor accused of the “satanic” murder of an uMlazi teenager, were all released from custody on Thursday after being granted bail at the uMlazi Magistrate’s Court.
Sinethemba Dlamini, 15, was found dead by police on March 10 with her intestines lying next to her at her home in uMlazi.
Fundiswa Faku, 29, Lindela Jalubane, 38, her daughter, Nokubonga Jalubane, 18, Nonhlanhla Mdletshe, 21, and the 15-year-old minor all pleaded not guilty.
On Thursday, Magistrate Anesh Sukdeo granted each accused bail of R500 and released the minor into her father’s custody.
He said the accused had satisfied the court by presenting it with exceptional circumstances to be granted bail.
“In his evidence, the investigating officer said he was opposing bail because he feared for the safety of his witnesses,” said Sukdeo.
The magistrate granted Faku and Lindela Jalubane bail on the basis that they were mothers and that the exceptional circumstances they had provided to the court had not been challenged by the State.
“The court also takes into cognisance that applicant five (Mdletshe) volunteers at an NGO where she cares for people who are near death, free of charge.
“The court is of the view that you should be granted bail because you are a good Samaritan to others,” he said.
School
He granted Nokubonga Jalubane and the minor bail because they were school pupils.
Giving evidence, the investigating officer, Warrant officer Alex Gumede, told the court that it was Faku who pulled Sinethemba’s intestines out.
He said the accused had been praying for Sinethemba because they believed she had been possessed by demons and they wanted her to give them “the code” to rid her of the demons and she had infected Faku with the demons as well.
“Applicant one (Faku) and the deceased both got undressed during the praying and they began touching each other’s privates until applicant two (Lindela Jalubane) got angry and told them to stop playing games, they must take out what they said they would take out,” he said.
Gumede said Lindela Jalubane then began assaulting Faku.
“At this time, Sinethemba got a chance to escape from the bedroom, the applicants chased her and brought her back to the room where they all assaulted her, saying that she didn’t want the demons out,” he said.
He said the five were assaulting her with a mop and an ironing board. Faku then began holding Sinethemba down and because she was resisting, each applicant helped hold her down by her limbs.
Gumede said Sinethemba had told Faku to stop and that she would take out whatever it was she was looking for herself, but Faku did not stop.
“Faku sat on top of her, used both hands to pull her vagina and put her hand in and began pulling out her intestines. She pulled these out and tied knots in them till everything she was pulling was outside of the deceased’s body,” he said.
When the applicants saw that Sinethemba was not moving, they had phoned the police.
Gumede said his investigation would take about a month to complete because he still needed to take statements from witnesses and the post-mortem report still had to be obtained.
The matter returns to court on April 25. - Daily News