S. African healer gets life for killing of Indian-origin woman

Johannesburg Oct 7 (IANS) A South African healer has been sentenced to life for his role in the murder of an Indian-origin woman by promising four men over $150 000.

Healer Sibonakaliso Mbili had promised one of the four co-accused Falakhe Khumalo 2 million Rand ($153 000) to get the head of an Indian coloured or white woman with long hair to conduct witchcraft activities officials said. Khumalo took the help of the other three accused -- Thuso Stanley Thelejane Mlungisi Ndlovu and Mbali Magwala -- to lure Indian-origin Desiree Murugan to a field near Shallcross sports grounds in the township of Chatsworth near Durban in 2014 the Post newspaper reported on Friday. Murugan a divorced mother of one was stabbed 192 times and thereafter decapitated. Khumalo later confessed to the murder and is serving a life sentence for killing the woman. The Durban High Court earlier this week jailed Thelejane and Ndlovu for 15 years. Magwala was given a 12-year jail term. After the verdict the victim s mother said: "No sentence will bring back my daughter but I am grateful for the hard work by all the people who were involved in the case." The emotional 64-year-old said she was haunted by images of her daughter s headless body in the coffin with a plastic bag with her head next to it. "They had committed the most horrible thing I can think of against another human being. My heart is heavy with pain but I hope that my daughter can finally rest and maybe one day my family will find closure." --IANS soni/bg