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Scott-Crossley in prison fight
14/12/2006 17:18 - (SA)
Nkosana ka Makaula
Nelspruit - Mark Scott-Crossley - the man convicted of feeding a former labourer to lions - is in trouble again. This time, he's accused of beating a fellow inmate so badly, that he had to be hospitalised.
Scott-Crossley has been put in an isolation cell after a fight broke out on Sunday at the Barberton Prison in Mpumalanga, where he is serving life in jail for the murder of Nelson Chisale in January 2004.
On Thursday, Mpumalanga provincial correctional services spokesperson, Sarie Peens, declined to give details about the fight.
"All I can tell you is that Scott-Crossley is now in an isolation cell and his alleged victim is in hospital. "The department is investigating this matter and we will issue a statement in due course. "I am not even aware whether the family of the injured inmate has been notified. "But, yes, Scott-Crossley is being investigated about this matter", she said.
The murder trial against Scott-Crossley hit a raw nerve across South Africa.
Crowds of angry black people were both inside and outside the Phalaborwa circuit of the Pretoria High Court and cheered when Judge George Maluleke sentenced him on October 1 this year.
His co-accused, Simon Mathebula, was also convicted of the murder and was jailed for 15 years, three years of which were suspended.
A third accused, Richard Mathebula (not related to Simon) died of tuberculosis before he could be tried.
Chisale had been sacked by Scott-Crossley a month before his murder, but returned to the farm in Hoedspruit where he'd worked as a labourer to collect some of his pots and pans.
The court heard that Mathebula grabbed him, tied him to a tree and, with Scott-Crossley, beat him until he lost consciousness.
Scott-Crossley then drove Chisale to the Mokwalo White Lion Project where he was thrown into an enclosure that held five lions.
All that was found of him were a few bones and some shredded clothes. His remains were identified by a single finger.
- African Eye
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