Woman, 5 children die in gruesome stabbing orgy

Durban - An Inanda woman was 11 weeks pregnant when she was murdered in her home, allegedly by her relative, who lived with her and her family.

Her five children were apparently chased into the bathroom, where they were brutally stabbed to death, with a total of 78 wounds.

These post-mortem findings were presented before Durban High Court Judge Jacqueline Hendriques on Tuesday by Dr Threnesan Naidoo, who was a senior forensic pathologist at Phoenix Mortuary at the time.

The youngest of the five children, 3-year-old Agnes Leneha, “drowned in her own blood” as she had 300ml of blood clots in her chest cavity, compromising her respiration and circulation. Her trachea pipe was also damaged, compromising her lungs.

Twenty-three-year-old Tsepang Solomon Mokhali, of Lesotho, pleaded not guilty to their murders on December 28, 2012, as well as to robbery with aggravating circumstances.

His defence, said his Legal Aid-instructed lawyer, Ben Dlamini, was a bare denial to all the allegations.

The State alleges Mokhali stole his cousin Nobuhle Leneha’s cellphone, R17 000 in cash, three leather jackets and four pairs of men’s shoes after the murders.

According to the indictment, Leneha and her children were at their home in uMzinyathi, in Inanda, when Mokhali apparently decided to rob her, as he was aware she had a substantial amount of money with her.

After shooting and stabbing Leneha, he allegedly chased the five children into the bathroom, where they were also killed. Her sixth child, a 15-month-old, was left unharmed.

Senior State advocate Kelvin Singh told the court Leneha’s husband, Leonard Babore, made the gruesome find two days later. Their toddler was still alive and was found in the main bedroom.

Babore said he told the police Mokhali killed his family. He said Mokhali confessed to him when he was arrested and apologised for the murders.

At the time, when he could not reach his wife, he said he contacted Mokhali, who apparently said his wife was not at home. He denied Leneha had given her cellphone to Mokhali as a gift.

Naidoo told the court he was called out to the scene on December 30, 2012. He found Leneha’s decomposing body in the lounge.

He was directed to the bathroom where the children’s ­bodies were lying on the floor.

He estimated they had been dead for about one-and-a-half to two days. He conducted the post-mortems a few days later and found Leneha was 11 weeks pregnant when she died.

She had been shot in the chest and stabbed eight times.

“While the gunshot wound was fatal, I can’t rule out the stab wounds as contributing factors to her death,” Naidoo testified. He found two litres of blood in her chest cavity and noted that she had no defensive injuries. Leneha’s 10-year-old son, Tumele, was stabbed 43 times, Naidoo said.

“When there are many stab wounds, one looks for a pattern. The weapon, from the wounds, one could tell was a single-edged blade. The wounds were in different directions, meaning there was movement from the perpetrator or the victim, or both. The little boy had defensive injuries,” he explained.

Leneha’s 12-year-old daughter was stabbed 19 times on her head, neck, chest and back. Six-year-old Karabo was stabbed six times, four-year-old Simphiwe was stabbed five times and 3-year-old Agnes, five times.

The trial continues.