Mob bays for killers' blood
2003-09-18 20:04
Bloemfontein - Police again had to keep an angry crowd away from six alleged muti killers in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court on Thursday.
The crowd, protesting against bail for the six, again waited in vain for a glance of the accused at their second court appearance.
Many of the protesters, who arrived at the court about 09:00, had to wait until shortly before 16:00 when the suspects appeared.
Several officers from the police's public order unit, however, escorted the accused along corridors where they went unnoticed by the crowd.
Two of the accused, Joshua Mphai and Morgan Booysen, were led to chambers where they reportedly made certain confessions before a magistrate.
Two other men, Sameul Nene and David Matebese, both sangomas, indicated they wanted to apply for bail.
Magistrate B T Ludidi remanded the case until October 3 for their applications.
The six were arrested last week after five were caught in the Freedom Square squatter camp allegedly hawking a bag filled with the body parts of a young man.
They later led police to a nearby dam where the unknown victim was butchered and the remaining part of his body was dumped in the water.
Also among the accused are two women, Sophie Didi and Miriam Matewis.
All six again asked not to be kept in custody at the Grootvlei prison outside Bloemfontein because they feared they might be killed by fellow prisoners.
Ludidi ordered they be kept in police cells at three different stations in Bloemfontein and nearby Brandfort.
- SAPA