Durban — The 33-year-old man charged with the murder of his girlfriend, whose body was found buried in a ditch near his neighbour’s yard, was to appear again in court in February.
Lindokuhle Mbhele’s body was found in a ditch near the yard of Ntokozo Khumalo’s neighbour on September 2. This had been after he had phoned the neighbour telling him that he had killed Mbhele and buried her body in the ditch near his yard.
Mbhele’s funeral was on September 9.
At that stage, Khumalo was no longer in the area of Tshelimnyama where he had been living with his brother.
The State, in the matter, alleges that on August 31, Khumalo unlawfully and intentionally killed Mbhele by stabbing her.
Khumalo who abandoned bail when he first appeared in court on September 6 made his third appearance in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court recently where his matter was adjourned to February for further investigation.
Mbhele, 27, left their Tshelimnyama home on Thursday August 31, going to her boyfriend’s house in the same area.
Her family had expected her home in the afternoon, but she did not return. She had gone to Khumalo’s house to take some medication to him and had told her family when she left that she would not be sleeping at Khumalo’s house.
Later that evening, after Mbhele did not return home, her family phoned the accused asking about her whereabouts and he said he did not know where she was.
Khumalo went to his girlfriend’s home and said maybe they should go to the police, because he was also worried about her. He left and that was the last time they saw him until he appeared in court.
Mbhele’s body was found decomposed and DNA had to be done for identification purposes.
According to Mbhele’s family, she had been in a relationship with Khumalo for about five months.
It was also alleged that, in April, he had assaulted her and she was injured. The family added that she had also confided in one of her sisters, saying that the relationship was abusive and the accused was controlling.
When Khumalo made his second appearance in court. the State revealed that when it came to investigations, the post-mortem report, as well as the plea and confession on the J88, had been filed.
Mbhele was a hairdresser and had no children and had plans to open her own hair salon.
Khumalo’s matter is still in the district court as investigations are continuing. It will be transferred to the regional court when it is trial-ready.
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Daily News