OPINION

"An eye for an eye!" - Daily Sun

The front page and lead story of SA's largest daily newspaper, March 27 2014

Daily Sun (March 27 2014) - SHE is a Christian and knows she shouldn't ask for revenge. But the brutal attacks on her family have left no place in her heart for forgiveness.

GOGO ROSE PRAYED FOR JUSTICE AND SHE BELIEVES GOD HAS ANSWERED HER PRAYERS.

"All those who killed my children and raped my grandchild must die," said gogo Rose Mthombeni (60), from block A near Malelane, Mpumalanga.

"I'm a Catholic and I am not supposed to wish death upon any human being, but the  pain is too much. Today I believe in an eye for an eye," she said.

Rose's son, Andries Sithole (43), a tavern owner, and his wife Dailta Mula (33), were shot dead in their house on 17 February. The thugs also kidnapped their 15-year-old daughter and gang raped her.

As is so often the case, the thugs were not arrested. The frustrated community, who knew the men, decided to take action and went searching for them.

A few hours later, a man was found in possession of the couple's cellphones and was beaten to death.

The other two went into hiding but this Monday, another one of the thugs was tracked down and killed.

Rose said she is grateful to her community for killing the two.

"The brave people from the village should not be seen as killers, but heroes who protect innocent residents who are being terrorised by these cruel thugs.

"I am grateful to those who hunted them down and killed them," she said.

A resident who asked not to be named said the hunt for the thug and his eventual death on Monday was a breakthrough.

"He confessed that his dead friend was the one who pulled the trigger," said the resident.

"He said he was also there and they used muthi to make them untouchable, but we still caught them."

He said it will send a message to all the thugs in the village that their days of terror are numbered.

The thug's ears were sliced off and his head cut open with an axe. A small fire was started next to his body.

His accomplice, who was killed in February, died the same way.

Meanwhile, gogo Rose has not stopped praying. She wants those who gang raped her granddaughter to face the same cruel end. "God is not happy with killers. We should pray for them all to die," she said.

) Provincial SAPS spokesman Colonel Leonard Hlathi said the police had gone to arrest the second suspect (30) on Monday when they heard he had been captured and killed.

He said the man was killed after another woman aged 22 was raped in the area on Saturday.

"Her description of the man who raped her matched that of the one wanted for robbery. Cops found a firearm they believe was used in the robbery," Hlathi said.

He said the third suspect had been arrested and appeared in the Tonga Magistrates Court last week.

See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....

 

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