Mercy’s body to be exhumed?

Two men, Nelson Baloyi (48) and Desmond Nemushungwa (29), briefly appeared in the Makuya Periodical Court on Wednesday in connection with the alleged ritual murder of Mercy Ndou of Tshitavha. Her mutilated body was found with body parts missing on 15 June.

Baloyi was arrested in Daveyton, Gauteng, while Nemushungwa was arrested at Tshitavha. The case was transferred to Thohoyandou and postponed to Monday, 28 July, for a formal bail application, following a request from Adv Sigogo, who appeared for Desmond Nemushungwa. Both accused remain in custody.

In another twist in the case, a spokesperson for the Ndou family, Pastor Jabulani Monegi, said that Ndou's body would be exhumed. Although police spokesperson Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi could not confirm an exhumation, Monegi said that the task team from the province that had made the arrests had informed the family that the body should be exhumed “to confirm it if it was that of Ndou.”

He added that a post mortem was done on 16 June, a public holiday, and that the police told them to pick up the body on the same day.

"When the task team told us that the body must be exhumed for DNA tests, we suspected that someone wanted to disturb this case," said Monegi, who is the stepfather of Nemushungwa, one of the accused.

Monegi said the family was struggling to cope with the dilemma of having one of their family members as a suspect in the case. "It was very difficult when we were burying Mercy without her body parts. Now we have to go through the pain again when her body will be exhumed," said Monegi.

A few members of the Ndou family and some journalists were allowed into the small courtroom, while hundreds of concerned community members gathered outside the court. The court proceeding lasted less than five minutes and the community members said that they would attend the proceedings in Thohoyandou and oppose any bail applications.

Date:18 July 2014

By: Ndivhuwo Musetha

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