The High Court on Wednesday this week postponed the sentencing of Quthing serial killer, Mphatšoe Ntjelo, to September 23 2024.
Ntjelo was found guilty of killing his three children and younger brother in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Ntjelo who has been languishing in remand prison since then was convicted by the High Court in June this year.
Judge Molefi Makara was expected to hand down sentence on Wednesday this week but indicated that there were logistical challenges in completing a social inquiry report.
Justice Makara noted that the court and parties involved in the case found it wise and prudent that experts in social sciences, especially those deployed in the ministry of social development, assist with assessing Ntjelo’s personality.
He further indicated that although there had been lapses in this case, everything was placed in order.
He pointed out that he was also postponing sentencing because some lawyers who had asked to be part of the matter were still preparing their papers.
Ntjelo’s co-accused, his wife ‘Mamotšabi reportedly died in police custody in Quthing in 2015 shortly after their arrest.
This left Ntjelo to face the music alone.
He was convicted of slaughtering his children then aged 10 years (name not given), Reatšeliseha (three years), and three-months old Nthona, and his younger brother Molefi, supposedly to acquire wealth through ritualistic means. He is said to have buried their mutilated bodies in two of their huts.
The disturbing incidents which left fellow villagers shell-shocked reportedly occurred between October 2014 and February 2015.
Ntjelo and his deceased wife first killed their two elder children in October 2014 and the youngest in February 2015.
The couple went on to dismember the deceased’s bodies before burying their parts in one of the huts at their homestead.
The duo also killed Ntjelo’s young brother, Molefi, in January 2015, and mutilated his body before burying it in the same hut.
When delivering his judgment in June this year, Justice Makara had noted that investigators had discovered that the deceased’s bodies were disfigured with the purpose of creating ‘muti’ with the hope that it would help the couple have a chain of shops, lots of cattle and taxis.
The bodies were reportedly buried together with the head of a donkey and some ‘muti’.
“There is no reasonable conclusion that can be taken from all these incidents, except that the accused and his wife committed all these inhuman and uniparental incidents.
“In the premises and the analysis of the case, it is found that the crown has proved beyond reasonable doubt you are guilty of having killed the four deceased persons who had to be your closest relatives,” said Justice Makara addressing Ntjelo.
“In January 2015, ‘Mamotšabi ordered Molefi to go and sleep. Later, her husband went to Molefi’s bedroom where she tightened a cloth on his mouth while Ntjelo decapitated him. They took out his heart and visceral fat,” he said.
According to Justice Makara, the murder couple was later detained by suspicious neighbours who had asked about the whereabouts of their children and Ntjelo lied and said that they were in Mohale’s Hoek at his doctor’s place.
But when fellow villagers and the local chieftainess questioned him further, Ntjelo showed them where they had buried the bodies of their children.
Police were called in and they ordered Ntjelo to exhume the bodies.
Justice Makara also noted that Ntjelo had confessed to disembowelling the children’s corpses and burying Nthona in a small hut and Motšabi in a roundavel.
It is said the couple murdered Molefi in February 2015. They took out his heart, mutilated the armpits, cut off his ears and then later buried the body together with Nthona’s in a small hut.
Molefi’s body was buried with the cut-off head on the stomach; it was identifiable as it had not decayed yet,” said Justice Makara.
Ntjelo is also said to have taken a saw and grinded Molefi’s skull to extract his brain before burying his body in a roundavel.
The couple’s case epitomises the state’s delays in affording suspects the right to speedy trials.
