FOUR men who spent two Christmases in jail for allegedly chopping an orphaned boy’s leg for juju purposes, and a co-accused man, briefly appeared in the Mhala Regional Court, South Africa on Friday, 26 February.
But Magistrate Elmarie Theron had the matter postponed until 15 April for witnesses and for trial.
The five face counts of kidnapping and the attempted murder of the boy by placing his leg on big stones before hacking it off with a panga.
It happened in the valley outskirts of Athol Village in the Greater Manyeleti area of Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga on 31 October, 2019.
The boy, who was living with his gogo after the death of his parents, was rescued by a motorist passing by who rushed him to hospital.
He was released from hospital in December 2019 and was placed under police and social workers’ protection.
His badly decomposed leg was later recovered by police dumped behind the Thulamahashe Plaza after one the five men led the police to it. It was sent for DNA testing in the national forensic lab.
The boy’s gogo later died from what doctors described as acute stress after the ordeal, and separation from the boy who she loved so much.
The fifth suspect had since July been out on R1 000 bail.-Daily Sun
