A district surgeon testifying in the trial of the four alleged murderers of Mdantsane pupil Lydia Mankwente described to the Bisho High Court on Tuesday the injuries sustained by Mankwente during the alleged attack.
Mankwente (20) was allegedly abducted, raped and murdered in September last year by Simphiwe Nivathi (18) Nqaba Mabhoza (20) Vusumzi Msuthu (18) and a 17-year-old youth. They are facing charges of murder, rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances and kidnapping.
Mankwente’s body, with broken bones and a multitude of severe cuts and bruises, was discovered near a dumpsite in Mdantsane on September 4.
Previous evidence was that Mankwente had been forced into a car by her attackers. She was then apparently attacked savagely. Mdantsane mortuary district surgeon Dr Dominic John told the court on Tuesday that on September 5 he examined the body, which was naked except for a pair of green socks.
John reported in his post mortem that Mankwente’s body was covered with blood and mud stains. Injuries listed in his report included a fracture of the right side of the upper jaw as well as bruised abrasions on the whole of the right side of the face. There were also abrasions on the front and sides of the nose.
Scalp tissue was found completely ”degloved” downwards and the skull cap was fragmented. The report also stated that brain matter was escaping from the skull. John told the court that Mankwante’s private parts were lacerated and stained with blood and that her pelvis was fractured. Her spinal column was dislocated and the spinal cord was almost cut through.
John said Mankwente died as a result of multiple injuries.
”The vaginal injuries were not an indication of rape… but I cannot exclude the possibility of rape,” John said.
He told the court not much time had elapsed between the various injuries. ”It happened quickly.”
”There were grazed abrasions on the right breast and leg — this can be produced by dragging or by a motor vehicle accident.”
He agreed that she could have been dragged over a rough surface after her death.
The four accused were reserved throughout Tuesday’s proceedings.
Nivathi listened intently, while Mabhoza chewed his nails. Msuthu kept his head down for most of the proceedings. But as the public left the courtroom, the 17-year-old was seen by reporters to flash a ”watch out” sign at Mankwente’s father,
Wilson.
During Tuesday’s proceedingas a trial-within-a-trial was concluded after state advocate Frans Kruger called Peddie magistrate Jeffrey Fritz. The court needed to determine whether the record of the bail proceedings held at Peddie on January 8, 9 and 10 would form part of the record of the main trial.
After testimony Judge Yusuf Ebrahim ordered that the record of the bail proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court in Peddie would form part of the evidence in the main trial. – Sapa