LIMPOPO -Three sentences of life imprisonment, two of them for rape and the third for ritual murder, are what 40-year-old Azwitamisi Tshikhudo from Mutale outside Thohoyandou has to look forward to, probably for the rest of his life.
Tshikhudo was sentenced by the Thohoyandou high court last Friday.
Provincial police spokesperson, Col Ronel Otto, said Tshikhudo committed several other crimes, such as housebreaking and robbery in the Musina and Makhado areas, terrorising these communities between 2010 and 2013.
“He was finally brought to book in 2013 following the ritual murder of a 34-year-old Zimbabwean woman. After killing her, he cut off her arm and hand with the intention of selling them, and dumped her body high in a mountain from where it had to be retrieved by a helicopter following his arrest,” she said.
“He was sentenced to two life imprisonment terms on two charges of rape, as well as life for the murder. All the other sentences, such as 10 years for housebreaking and 15 years’ imprisonment for robbery will run concurrently with the life sentences,” Otto said.
In April 2013, shoppers at a Louis Trichardt restaurant were horrified when a man stormed into a shop, and reached into a freezer from which he removed a human arm that he then started waving around.
At the time of the incident, provincial police spokesperson, Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi, said the police were notified immediately and the man was arrested on the spot.
“Tshikhudo told the police he had gone to the shop to demand his share of R70 000 and a motor vehicle he was promised for his role in the murder,” Mulaudzi said.
“Tshikhudo then led the police to a nearby mountainous area where the mutilated body of a woman was found.
“The woman’s arm, eyes and private parts were missing.
“He (Tshikhudo) told the police the woman was killed after being made to believe she was going to a prayer meeting,” Mulaudzi further explained at the time.
