Warning: Some readers may find this report disturbing
A traditional healer in South Africa has been sentenced to life imprisonment for instigating the beheading of an Indian-origin woman in 2014.
The Durban High Court on Wednesday handed down the sentence to Sibonakaliso Mbili who will spend the rest of life in jail and his two accomplices Jimmy Stanley Thelejala and Mlungisi Ndlovu received15-year jail terms, IOL News reported.
A third accused Mbali Magwala, got 12 years behind bars.
All the four were found guilty in January this year of killing Desiree Murugan.
Another accused, Falakhe Khumalo, had already pleaded guilty and is currently serving life in prison.
The court found that Mbili had promised to pay 2 million Rand ($187,000) to one of the co-accused for bringing the head of an Indian or a white or a coloured woman for witchcraft purposes, officials said.
The Judge found that the Thelejala, Ndlovu and Magwala lured Ms Murugan to a sports ground and was stabbed 192 times before being beheaded.
In her testimony, Ms Murugan’s sister Sheryl Naidu described her as a good and kind person who did not deserve to die in such a “horrific and barbaric fashion”.
The director of public prosecutions Moipone Noko congratulated the prosecutors and hoped that the verdict will help stem the “scourge” of muthi killings- the killing of a human being in order to excise body parts to use as medicine or for magical purposes in witchcraft.
The community members also welcomed the court verdict and said it would send a strong message to those who are duped into believing that human body parts can be used as traditional medicines.
Earlier, the Traditional Healers Association of South Africa had also condemned the practice as one by rogue elements, in especially rural areas of the country that was giving a bad name to genuine traditional healers.
The sentencing in the case was meant to have taken place in March this year, but an outstanding report meant Murugan's family had to wait longer for the verdict
