/ 9 June 1999

MOTHER CUTS OUT SON’S TESTICLE

A 65-YEAR-OLD Northern Province woman was arrested on Monday for cutting out one of her 27-year-old son’s testicles for muti. The woman, from Cunningmoore village 60km from Bushbuckridge, was arrested with three other suspects after they evaded police for two days. The other suspects are two men, aged 22 and 23, and a woman of 36. “We arrested them after an intensive search of nearby villages,” said police spokesman Inspector Bernard Ngoepe. He said the attack took place on Saturday, while the mother and son were preparing for an “ancestral ceremony”. “The son was grabbed by the four, and taken to a mud hut where they tied him down, took a sharp knife, and cut out his left testicle and part of the scrotum. “He passed out … When he regained consciousness he screamed for help, and neighbours came to his rescue,” said Ngoepe.