The Demon Girl, part 5

Isolezwe, Page 5, 31 Jul 2012

Nontuthuko Ngubane, reporting from Pietermaritzburg

Maritzburg family living in fear

The family of a child from Sweetwaters near Pietermaritzburg, who was murdered and had her eyes removed, fears for its life because the one accused in this case has still not admitted that he was the one who committed this heinous act. Yesterday Mzokhona Sibisi (32), who claimed to be praying for Ayanda so that he would save her, appeared for the fourth time in court – but the hearing of the case has still not begun because he has not yet obtained a lawyer.

Ayanda Sibiya (12) was found murdered in a water tank in Sweetwaters, bound hand and foot and with various parts of her body removed.

It was the first time that Ayanda’s mother, Ntombenhle Sibiya (32) was present in court since the accused began to appear on this charge.

A family member who didn’t want his name to be published said that they are living in fear because they don’t know whether the others who helped ‘Mzo’ to murder their child were still at large.

“We are fearful now because we don’t know whether there are still other murderers at large. The fact that this case is not commencing is really upsetting us. We don’t know why this person’s family has not appeared. Even if there are people from Msinga who say that they saw the newspaper with his name, his family has still not appeared after such a long time,” said this member of the family.

As usual whenever Sibisi appears in court, he was smiling and chatting again with other accused sitting next to him.

When asked by the Magistrate whether he was still going on for this long about the issue of his lawyer, he replied in English, saying that he was still waiting to be put in touch with his family so that they would sort out the matter of the lawyer.

“The investigator of the case was not there the whole week at the police station in which I was incarcerated. For this reason I was unable to get my cellphone with the numbers of my family. Up until now I have not yet managed to communicate with them (at home) so that we can chat about this issue of the lawyer,” said Sibisi, speaking in court.

Previously the Magistrate requested that he be returned to Plessisslaer so that he could be near to the investigator of the case, but the police station released a document to the effect that the accused should not be returned to them but should be kept at New Prison because of danger to him at that police station.

The Magistrate directed that the accused be returned to New Prison and communicate with the investigator of the case so that he could be able to get hold of his family quickly.

Community members who were filling the court in order to attend this case left feeling very irritated.

Many were accusing Sibisi of murdering his family, since it has not appeared even after a long time has passed with him in jail.

He said that he was from eMpangeni in the court, but people close to him said that he had once said that he was from Mphophomeni.

The Demon Girl, part 4

‘We don’t need these tent services now’ 

24 July 2012, page 3, Isolezwe

Nonthuthuko Ngubane

Reporting from Pietermaritzburg

The community of Sweetwaters near Pietermaritzburg wants to put a stop to ‘tent services’ in their area because it believes that these arrive with corrupted priests.

Yesterday in the court in Pietermaritzburg, members of the community protested in great numbers against the bail request of Mzokhona Sibisi (32), who is accused of murdering a 12 year old girl, claiming that he was praying over her in order to heal her of her demonic possession.

This incident has left the family of Ayanda Sibiya (12) completely stunned, as parts of her body were cut out and she was bound hand and foot with a rope. The community, led by the councillor for the area, Mr Simon Sokhela, as well as members of the ANC Women’s League Moses Mabhida Region, arrived to hear about the case of this ‘faith-healer’, saying that he was playing with religion because he wanted to achieve his own intentions.

Ms Zanele Ngcobo told Isolezwe that, in her opinion, these ‘tent services’ should be stopped.

“We no longer need these tents in this community. We are getting tired of people who hide behind religion but are actually corrupted. People should preach to their own people, because we see them just suddenly springing up in their tents with their spirits so high that we think they are great Christians, even though they are actually criminals,” said Ms Ngcobo.

According to Ayanda’s family, Sibisi (the accused) arrived in Sweetwaters with a ‘tent service’. He found out about Ayanda’s sickness ‘of the demons’ and then asked to pray over her. His relationship with the family grew because they thought that she was saved and that he was helping them.

Ayanda’s family was in court for the first time since Sibisi first appeared on July 9. 

Ms Sizani Sibiya, the aunt of Ayanda, said that they were not convinced that Sibisi was the one who had killed Ayanda, before he had written them a letter confessing to the crime. 

“We were actually even wanting to get him out of jail, when he was first arrested. He was like a father to Ayanda, and he used to take her out to eat. There was nothing that he wouldn’t have done for her. What stopped us thinking like this was when he wrote us a letter saying that he confessed to the crime. How could he confess to a crime if he didn’t know about it?” Asked Ms Sibiya, crying in anger.

She said that in this letter he said that he confessed to the crime because he was being greatly harassed by the police, and he said that even if someone hadn’t yet been arrested it was okay as long as someone was arrested for his friend Ayanda. 

Councillor Sokhela said that this matter was extremely disturbing to them as the community because this ‘faith-healer’ was now wanting others to be arrested who had not been involved in the case.

Sibisi was returned to jail in order to obtain a lawyer, as he said that he had not been able to communicate with his family since he was arrested.

The case will return to court on July 30. 

The Demon Girl, part 3

10 Jul 2012

Isolezwe

Nonthuthuko Ngubane

Reporting from Pietermaritzburg

 

A man accused of murdering a child (12) from Sweetwaters, who allegedly was possessed by demons, was returned to jail so that the investigation can continue. Mzokhona Sibisi (32), who appeared in the Magistrate’s Court in Pietermaritzburg yesterday on the charge of murdering Ayanda Sibiya, who was found with her eyes and other parts of her body removed, and with her hands and feet bound. Sibisi asked to have his own paid lawyer but he said that he had not yet spoken with him. The magistrate advised him to sit down while he was still talking to him and that he should find a lawyer as quickly as possible.The state said that it will oppose the application for bail, if Sibiya lodges one, because his case is very serious and there is much still to be gathered in terms of evidence relating to this case. Sibisi was dressed in his blue jacket and dungarees, not looking particularly concerned, since he was shooting the breeze and chatting with another accused sitting near him.

 

His case has been postponed to July the 16th, on which day he will have a chance to lodge an application for bail. 

The Demon Girl, part 2

A faith-healer – who was said to be helping a family with freeing their child (12) in Sweetwaters near Pietermaritzburg, saying that he was removing the demons from her though she was later found dead – has been arrested.

Ayanda Sibiya (12) was buried on Saturday, after her body was found with the eyes and other parts of the body removed, her hands and feet tied, in a water tank near a church.

Ayanda went missing from her family two weeks ago, leaving behind a letter stating that she had gone in order to protect her little sister from the demons which she was constantly complaining we’re afflicting her.

Spokesperson for the police in the province, Captain Thulani Zwane, said that the police had arrested a man aged 32 in relation to Ayanda’s death.

“The suspect was arrested on Thursday, and will appear in court in Pietermaritzburg tomorrow (today),” said Zwane.

Isolezwe had found out that the man who was arrested was the father of the younger daughter of Ayanda’s mother – the same daughter that they feared would be possessed by demons. There are allegations that this man was the one afraid that his little child would be possessed by demons,vans so forced Ayanda to write the letter as though she was the one who was afraid for their child.

After forcing her to write the letter it is alleged that he then killed her, and placed her body in a water tank next to the church.

Ayanda’s mother, Ms. Ntombenhle Sibiya (32) yesterday said that she is still shocked that the suspect was arrested as she had trusted him and he got along very well with the deceased. She told this newspaper that the father of the little child was another person, not the suspect.

“We went to the police station wanting the letter that Ayanda had written because I want it to be in my possession since it is the last thing she did before she went missing,” she explained.

She said that the police had apparently interrogated the suspect for an entire day at the station, and had finally arrested him.

Ms Sibiya said that the faith-healer (whose name cannot be revealed) was helping them at home, coming and going with Ayanda, and that they had begun to treat him like a member of the family.

She said that the accused had arrived at the beginning of the previous year with a “preachers’ tent” in Sweetwaters, and a member of the community had reported to him the fact that Ayanda had been ill for many years, after which this faith-healer appeared at the Sibiya house asking to pray over the girl in order to save her.

She said that following this since then he would arrive and visit, in order to pray over the child.

Ms Sibiya said that the police had confiscated his cellphone and had disrupted the funeral, as they were organizing many plans for the funeral together with the accused. The body of Ayanda was found in a tank near the church building after the faith-healer himself had said that it would be found there.

The Demon Girl, part 1

This is the first part of a story that keeps getting more and more disturbing by the day – part 2 and 3 coming soon

5 July 2012
Isolezwe
Nontuthuko Ngubane, reporting from Pietermaritzburg

Family fears ‘demons’ in a small child

The family of a young girl from Mbutshane in Sweetwaters, Ayanda Sibiya (12), who was found murdered with her eyes and chunks of flesh moved from her body in a tank of water near a church, now fear for their two-week-old child. The girl’s mother, Ms Ntombenhle Sibiya (32), who recently gave birth to a little girl, is living in fear that this child will also be possessed by the ‘demons’ that afflicted her older daughter.

Amanda went missing from their household two weeks ago, leaving behind a letter explaining that she had gone in order to protect her little sister from the demons about which she was constantly complaining.

Amanda never met her little sister, as she went missing from their household on the Thursday, and her mother returned home from the hospital with her baby the next day. According to the children’s mother, her little child cries excessively, causing her to suspect that something is not quite right with her.

“My child cries excessively and unusually. This is the first child I’ve had who cries like this. Her crying surprises me and it doesn’t help me to understand what’s wrong with her,” says Ms. Sibiya.

Although Ms Sibiya knew the demons that her daughter was constantly complaining about, as she had stayed for 9 months with an inyanga and was cured there, she said that she had not expected that her ‘sickness’ would be tamed by this.

“I will never forget what I saw – my child murdered so painfully. Her eyes no longer there, and chunks of her flesh gone, tied up like a sacrificial goat. I loved Ayanda, she was my hope, she was always complaining about the creatures telling her stories all the time but I never thought that she’d end up being killed in this way,” said Ms Sibiya.

The girl, whom people say was clever, was in Grade 6 at SibonguMbovu Primary school in Sweetwaters.

“Last year she was out of school for many months because of this sickness of hers, and she only went back to school as the year was almost over, but she pitched up and wrote her tests and passed.”

When the police were contacted, Captain Thulani Zwane said that the letter allegedly written by the deceased had been taken by the police to be examined.

“the letter is in the possession of the police now so that it can be examined. No arrests have yet been made in this case but the police are still investigating a case of murder,” said Zwane.

The police also said that they do not have any other cases resembling this one in the Sweetwaters area.

The case of the murder through removal of ‘amadimoni’ is postponed

Isolezwe 26 April 2012 page 35

The case of the five accused (among them a 15 year old girl) of removing the intestines and sexual organs of a 14 year old girl whom they accused of being possessed by demons has been postponed to the 23rd of May. The accused, Fundiswa Faku, Lindela Jalubane, Nokubonga Jalubane and Nonhlanhla Mdletshe were released on bail of R500 each, and the one minor accused whose name may not be published was released into the custody of her parent without bail.

They appeared briefly in the Magistrate’s Court in Mlazi, and their cause was postponed so that further investigations can be conducted.

The accused face a charge of murdering S’nenhlanhla Dlamini (14), whom they allegedly tied up and accused of being possessed by demons.

Allegedly they then removed a ring from inside her and she was disemboweled and her sexual organs and other internal organs were removed, and she then died.

This case is not open to the public, and even the relatives of S’nenhlanhla cannot enter the courtroom once the court is in session. Only the parent of the minor accused can enter.

At the beginning of this case the community crowded outside the court protesting, wanting their charges to be lifted and for them to granted bail.