NELSPRUIT – The two accused of brutally hacking a six year-old girl while she was alive, have been sentenced to life. This after Judge Collin Lamot found Stella Zulu (49) and Sifiso Wonder Vilakazi (24) guilty of murder and abduction.
Lamot sentenced both to life for murder and 15 years for kidnapping the child. The sentences would run concurrently.
The horrific crime had occurred on April 21, 2009 at Masibekela Trust in the Nkomazi subregion.
Lamot stated that although the post –mortem result differed slightly to the accused’s statements of what had happened to the child, there was enough evidence to prove both were present when the child was brutally murdered.
He said the post-mortem results had revealed the hand had been cut off and a cut from the naval down removing the inner thighs and private parts. He said the tongue and other organs had not been removed.
“The lighting that night could have contributed to the accused not accurately stating exactly what organs were removed plus the child must have been putting up a fight.”
He said it was a planned wicked act and besides their confessions they also had done a pointing out of the crime scenes on their own accord.
With regards to the others that had been implicated in the crime, Lamot stressed that the law of the country does not permit one accused against another unless the evidence was given in court.
This had not occurred as both accused during the trial denied any knowledge of the crime despite their confessions given to police when they first were apprehended.
Lamot stressed that the community should not disregard the law and not harm those that had charges withdrawn, as it was not for the community to decide who was guilty or innocent.
Full details of how the transaction of body parts was planned and more details of the murder will be in Tuesday’s edition of Lowvelder.
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