Durban - Three people accused of murdering two young girls during an apparent exorcism in Ezimambeni, near Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal made their first appearance in court on Monday.
Makhosonke Sibisi, Ngosingiphile Sithole and Nompumelelo Langa appeared briefly in the Nkandla Magistrate's Court on two counts of murder. They were remanded in custody and will appear in court again next week.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said they received a call on March 24 about an incident at a house in the community.
She said when police arrived at the scene, they found two 9-year-old girls lying on the floor with bruises all over their bodies.
"One of the girls was already deceased and the other was unconscious. The second girl was rushed to hospital and died upon arrival," she said.
Mbele said, according to relatives, the girls claimed they were being attacked by an evil spirit that was instructing them to drink blood. The girls also allegedly told their families the evil spirit was assaulting them.
"In response to the girls' attack by the evil spirits, the family also beat up the girls as a form of exorcism. A local pastor was also called to pray for the girls and he also allegedly joined in the beating of the girls.
"Prior to the arrival of the police, the family had taken the deceased girl to the traditional healer after beating her. The traditional healer could not do anything for her because she was already deceased and he brought back the body to the family."
"A few days later, the second young girl, who was taken to hospital, succumbed to her injuries and passed on," Mbele said.
She said police were able to piece together the events that unfolded and the trio were arrested.
Mbele said further investigations also revealed that in 2015, another girl from the family died under mysterious circumstances and was buried a day after her death without the family informing the authorities.
It is also suspected the same was going to happen to these young girls because, according to the investigations, the family had not reported their situation to anybody except for the pastor.
Investigations are ongoing and the Nkandla detectives will also probe the death of the girl in 2015.