Sex discussed before satanic ritual, court hears

There was talk of having sex with Kirsty Theologo and her friend before they were set alight in an apparent satanic ritual, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Thursday.

   

"Lester [Moody] said we must sleep with the girls, not rape them," Linden Wagner, the alleged mastermind of the ritual, told the High Court in Johannesburg, sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court.

   

He said he did not agree with the suggestion.

   

Earlier, Wagner told the court that he and four of the other accused had been prepared to sell their souls on the day Theologo and her friend were doused with petrol and set alight in an alleged satanic ritual on a hill in Linmeyer, Johannesburg, in October 2011.

   

Theologo died of her burns a week later, but her 14-year-old friend survived the attack.

   

Wagner told the court Moody gave them alcohol laced with brake fluid. Theologo said she could not drink it because it tasted bad.

   

Earlier, Wagner told the court that he packed a Bible, a knife, and candles for the ritual.

   

"We dressed in black to prepare for the ceremony," he said.

   

Theologo did not know of their plans, and thought they were heading to the hill to drink alcohol.

   

Wagner had suggested that they hold the ritual at the hill.

   

"I suggested the mountain because I had been there before.... We couldn't have done it at the [my] flat because we needed an open area. We thought of going to the park, but we saw it was too open,"  Wagner said.

   

They smoked dagga on their way to the hill and came across a police van. The group ran away from the police.

   

Wagner said Theologo asked along the way why everyone was dressed in black.

   

"She said she too wanted to be dressed in black. Someone gave her a black jacket to put over her pink top," he said.

   

Wagner, Harvey Isha, Robin Harwood, and Courtney Daniels are on trial for murdering Theologo, attempting to murder of her friend, and for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. All have pleaded not guilty.

   

Two other accused, Jeremy King and Lester Moody, confessed to the crime and were each sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment, five of which were suspended.

   

The trial continues.

   

-Sapa