Nephew kills aunt for “witchcraft”
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A 30 years old nephew is set to spend a life plus 17 years in prison for the murder of his aunt, Modjadji Mtshali accusing her of practicing witchcraft.
The nephew, Raymond Mahlasela Mtshali from Clau-Clau in Mpumalanga made his way to the deceased aunt’s house on May 10th, 2022 where he found her watching TV with her children. Moments later, he went to the restroom and came back with a firearm and shot the victim several times before fleeing the scene with the firearm.
This is according to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson in the area Monica Nyuswa who also added that Mtshali fled to KwaZulu-Natal but handed himself over to the police five days later together with the firearm.
“In court, the accused pleaded not guilty, and maintained his innocence. State Adv. Antoinette Nkosi led evidence of several witnesses, including the testimony of the eyewitness. The deceased’s granddaughter testified witnessing the accused firing shots at the deceased. The police officers also testified from what they observed from the crime scene.”
“Their evidence was supported by a ballistic report, which confirmed that the cartridge cases found on the crime scene, were fired from the firearm recovered in KZN where the accused was hiding. Post-mortem report was presented to court, and it revealed that the deceased died as a result of multiple gunshots wounds to the head.”
Before sentencing the accused, acting Judge Sheila Msibi, said the accused took the life of the person who raised him. She further said that the accused was supposed to be the one to care and protect the deceased. She found no reasons to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence.
She sentenced the accused to life imprisonment for murder, 15 years imprisonment for unlawful possession of a firearm, and 2 years’ imprisonment for unlawful possession of ammunition.
The court ordered that the sentence imposed on count 2 and 3 to run concurrently with the sentence imposed on count 1, effectively the accused will serve life imprisonment. The accused was further declared unfit to possess a firearm.
