Pretoria - The confession that three people were murdered and buried in a shallow grave in Olievenhoutbosch would not have been possible if it wasn’t for the intervention of a traditional healer.
Brian Tshuma said he was contacted to assist the 17-year-old boy who could not sleep and had become mentally unstable.
He said he then tricked him into talking about the murder before involving community leaders and the police.
Tshuma said he had been asked to assist in “calming the spirits and moving the bones to where they could never be found”.
“This whole thing actually came to me on a Saturday when the boy’s mother asked me to help her son who was losing his mind and talking to himself.
“I took the boy away with me and treated him so he could sleep. When I spoke to him and consulted my ancestor, I saw that this boy was being haunted by the spirit of his brother, one of the people killed and buried in that yard.
“Remember, we are Africans and have ancestors. The grave that contained the remains of his brother and his mother’s ex-boyfriends was just around the door at his home. It wasn’t even 2m deep.
“People thought the boy was just going crazy, but what they didn’t know was that his brother’s spirit was haunting him.
"He had pains in his heart and chest and also struggled to sleep well.
“I told him my ancestor showed me that dead people were buried in his home, and that he had a hand in their killing. He was a young man so I helped him so he could regain his psychological wellness and heal from the pain,” Tshuma said.
The boy and his mother would eventually confess to him, he said, and ask him to help make it all go away.
He said the only way they could be helped was if the bones were removed from the yard and the suspects were cleansed. However, he had secretly informed community leader Kgomotso Kalushi, who had reacted swiftly to ensure the law took its course.
“The police officers agreed to come without their uniforms on, and posed as men who were going to help me remove the bones and make this whole thing disappear.”
The chairperson of the ANC Youth League in the area, Tebogo Koloane, said: “This man played a big role in exposing this big crime and what he did is very commendable.”
Pretoria News