The Mthunzini magistrate’s court in northern KwaZulu-Natal has heard horrific details of how one of the nine-year-old minors was burned on her private parts in order to remove a demonic snake in an exorcism ritual that went horribly wrong.
The heart-wrenching episode took place in the village of Ezimambeni in Nkandla, northern KwaZulu-Natal and led to the arrest of family members and a pastor in March 2020.
Khethiwe Langa, the mother of one of the deceased minors, Nonjabulo Langa; a family member, Nkosingiphile Sithole; and pastor Makhosonke Sibisi are alleged to have suspected that Nonjabulo and another minor, Nompilo Sibisi, were possessed by evil spirits.
They claimed the evil spirits had whispered to primary school pupils who were both nine years old at the time of death to hunt down humans in search of blood to drink.
Divine intervention
A spiritual healer, Gcinokwakhe Zwane, who is among the key state witnesses, detailed how one of the deceased had been rushed to his homestead for him to provide divine intervention.
This after the deceased’s health had deteriorated after enduring hours of prayer characterised by severe beatings at the hands of the family members and the pastor.
The pastor is alleged to have been roped in by the family members to help them remove the demons from the minors. He then joined in the beating and torture.
“When they brought the child to me, I noticed that she was badly beaten and that she appeared weak. She was also bleeding on the area around her genitalia,” said Zwane in his testimony.
When Zwane asked what had happened, he claimed that he was told the demonic snake had protruded from the girls’ private areas and that they had used a sharp object and fire to remove it.
One of the police officers who was the first to arrive at the gruesome scene explained in his affidavit that “the two girls lay on the floor with bruises all over their bodies”.
“One of the girls was already deceased, and the other was unconscious,” said the officer.
One of the girls was certified dead on the scene, and the other died in the hospital 10 days later.
Death and burial kept a secret
It also emerged in the police investigation that another young girl in the same home had died under similar circumstances.
However, the family kept her death and burial a secret. The matter is still the subject of a police investigation.
The accused have pleaded their innocence and instead blamed the murder on a dead family member.
They claim she was the one who told the young girls to hunt for blood, saying the murders should be pinned on her.
The trial continues.
