Life for man who gruesomely killed boy
A 23-year old man who kidnapped a four-year-old boy before killing and dismembering him, leaving body parts in a church, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokeswoman Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said that 25-year-old Sibongiseni Nhlanhla Magugula, who was convicted on Thursday, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of four-year old Lungisani Ntuli.
He was also sentenced to five years for each of the two kidnapping charges and 10 years for an attempted murder charge. The sentences for kidnapping, murder and attempted murder are to run concurrently with the life sentence.
In July last year, Magagula kidnapped four-year-old Lungisani Ntuli and then murdered and dismembered him, leaving the child’s body parts in the property of the St Jones church in the Ncotshane area close to the Swaziland border in northern KwaZulu-Natal. More body parts were found at the house of a woman in the area.
At the time, residents went on the rampage and burned down the woman’s home, torched a rondavel in the church grounds and vandalised the church. Police arrested 15 people in connection with the protests.
Shortly after the gruesome find, Pastor John Fanyana Nkosi, 52, was arrested. But he was never charged and was then released.
A few days later, he was found locked in the boot of his car in the town of Louwsburg, about 80 kilometres away from Ncotshane.
The second kidnapping charge relates to Magugula’s attempt to kidnap and kill a five-year-old boy in June last year.
“The first complainant, a five-year-old boy was kidnapped by the accused and dragged into a field where the accused attempted to throttle him. His screams alerted a passer-by who ran to the scene. The accused fled leaving the child behind,” said Ramkisson-Kara.
On Thursday evening KwaZulu-Natal Provincial commissioner Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni praised police for “collecting all necessary evidence that led to the conviction of the accused”.
“The members worked hard under extreme conditions, being criticised by the community of not finding the killer of the boy,” Ngobeni said.
“We always appeal to the community to leave the police to do their work without being disturbed.”
Police had on Thursday issued a statement that said the convicted man’s name was Nhlanhla Magugula - ANA
(File photo: Gallo Images)