KZN court sentences two women, pastor for deadly exorcism
The Mtunzini High Court handed down lengthy prison sentences to two women and a pastor convicted of the murders of two children.
The boy (9) and girl (10) were killed in Nkandla in 2020.
Prosecutors say the women who were related to the children invited the pastor to a home for prayers.
KZN's NPA spokesperson Natasha Kara says the pastor was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
"The first and third accused were sentenced to 25 years imprisonment on each count of murder, and the court ruled that the sentences will run concurrently, resulting in the effective sentence of 25 years imprisonment each. The second accused was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on each count of murder, and the court ruled that the sentences would run concurrently, resulting in an effective sentence of 15 years imprisonment.
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"In sentencing the trio, the court deviated from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment, saying that the case had an unusual factual matrix in that the accused believed that the deceased were possessed by demons and inflicted the assaults in the process of driving out the demons from the deceased.
"The court found this to constitute as substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from life imprisonment. Further, the court found that the accused held varying levels of culpability in the commission of the offence. Hence the difference in the sentences received between them."
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