#CannibalismCase
Nino Mbatha (32) and Lungisani Magubane (30) heard their fate yesterday (December 12) in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
The pair that faced charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, has been found guilty and each sentenced to life. The third accused, Khayelihle Lamula was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
The internationally famed case rattled the small town of Estcourt when traditional healer Nino Mbatha confessed to Estcourt police that he was ‘tired’ of consuming human flesh in August last year.
Nino Mbatha produced a hand and foot belonging 25-year-old deceased, Zanele Hlatshwayo. Lungisani Magubane had earlier approached Nino Mbatha, for muti that would bring him luck.
Nino Mbatha advised him that the ancestors required blood to be spilled for that muti and told him to bring a woman or child.
In July 2017, Lungisani Magubane took the woman, who was in Estcourt, to Esigodlweni location where Mbatha slit her throat and beheaded her.
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Senior State Advocate, Wendy Greeff then announced that the Pretoria Forensic Laboratory presented the state with the DNA analysis, which confirmed that the body parts sent for DNA analysis belonged to the 25-year-old.
The two men removed her internal organs, hands, feet and other soft tissue. Female body parts were recovered at a home in Rensburgdrift after which body remains were found contained at Sthembiso Sithole’s (31) residence in Loskop.
READ MORE: BREAKING NEWS: DNA links #CannibalismCase to deceased Zanele Hlatshwayo
The gruesome murder of Zanele Hlatshwayo has resulted in life terms of imprisonment for both Nino Mbatha and Lungisani Magubane.
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