Prosecutors say Dankeny Morgan Mpofu, a self-proclaimed prophet known locally as tsikamutanda, approached his co-accused Thethela Mark Tshuma who was down with an ailment, promising to cure him. After conducting rituals, Mpofu told Tshuma that he had been bewitched by his brother, Mqatshelwa Ben Tshuma, prosecutor Fritz Madida told the Tsholotsho magistrates court. Mpofu promised Thethela that he could kill his brother, Mqatshelwa, if he was paid a beast, the court heard. On November 25 2008, prosecutors say Mpofu and Thethela proceeded to Mqatshelwa’s home in Malila Village where they invited him to a prayer in the kitchen hut. As Mqatshelwa, the accused man’s elder brother, knelt down and closed his eyes to pray, Mpofu allegedly struck him twice at the back of the head with a claw hammer, killing him instantly. Prosecutors say to cover up the murder, the pair used ropes made of ox-hides to hang Mqatshelwa body in the kitchen hut to create the impression of a suicide. Mpofu, whose address was not given, is said to have left the area soon after the killing. But prosecutors say he had trouble sleeping and eventually told his girlfriend that he was seeing visions of the dead man in his sleep. The girlfriend, who is lined-up to give testimony, went back to the village to track down Tshuma’s relatives and shop his killer boyfriend. When she arrived, Madida told the court, the murder had been discovered after a dog had been seen carrying a human arm which prompted a search by villagers.
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Cold-blooded murder as man killed kneeling in prayer
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