ONE suspect has been arrested for the gruesome murder of a 31-year-old eSikhaleni man, while three other suspects are still at large.
Gift Masandeke was at home relaxing with four friends on Sunday, 9 February when he was reportedly beaten to death.
In a statement to the police Masandeke’s cousing, Eric Mubona, recounted events on that day.
‘I received a frantic call from Stewart Rwafa, a friend of my cousin, who told me my cousin was very ill and I should come to his house immediately.
‘I thought it was a joke at first,so I ignored the call. However, when Rwafa called again, I knew something was seriously wrong.’
Arriving at his cousin’s house, Mubona found Masendeke being held upright by two of his friends. ‘I got out of my car and I could see my cousin was dead. His face did not look right and his body was limp,’ Mubona told police.
After being rushed to a local clinic, Masendeke was pronounced dead on arrival.
Mubona, wanting to find out what happened, questioned the four friends. ‘They said Masendeke fell over and hit his head, an explanation I could not believe.’
It was at this point that Mubona went to the police to report the death and was told that only after the postmortem had taken place would they be able to work out what happened.
When the postmortem revealed signs of foul play, a case of murder was opened.
In the interim the four friends, now murder suspects, had disappeared and only one, Prince Nengomasha, was found and arrested.
He appeared briefly in the eSikhaleni Magistrate’s Court on Thursday and the case has been remanded to 12 March.
