10 held for killing gran, kids
2010-08-24 21:19
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Johannesburg - Ten people, including a headman, have been arrested in connection with the murder of an Eastern Cape woman and her four grandchildren, police said on Tuesday.
The 71-year-old headman was arrested by the Hawks early on Tuesday, said Captain Mzukisi Fatyela.
He and nine other people, including a relative of the woman, would appear in the Ngqeleni Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, he said.
On Saturday night, 85-year-old Masilenge Bambusiba and her grandchildren Lwazi Bambusiba, 17, Lwando Bambusiba, 10, Vela Nogamane, 9, and Ezile Nogamane, 5, were hacked to death at their home in Sibubudu village.
The headman would face charges of conspiracy to commit murder, said Fatyela.
A headman is a person in a rural community who is allowed to hear and determine civil claims relating to indigenous law and custom between two Africans in his area, according to a government website on South Africa's court system.
Forensics
Fatyela said a 26-year-old man would be charged with planning the murder and carrying out that plan. The others were linked to the murder.
Police arrested four of them on Monday, four more on Tuesday morning, and another two later on Tuesday, he said.
"We worked the whole night and the whole day on the case."
The arrests took place in the village where the woman and children were killed.
Fatyela said police also found an axe, which was believed to be the murder weapon, and blood-stained clothes allegedly belonging to the victims.
"The items will be sent to the lab for forensic investigation," he said.
The killers broke into the family's home through a window. No weapons were found on the scene and nothing appeared to have been stolen.
Fatyela said on Sunday that the children's parents were not there at the time as they lived at their places of work in Johannesburg.
He said police could not speculate on the motive for the killing.
"We will be questioning the suspects and finalising the charges today (Tuesday)."
Eastern Cape acting provincial police commissioner, Major-General Noma-Lady Dlani, praised communities for working closely with the police and said this had led to the arrests.
- SAPA