The state wants life imprisonment for traditional healer who influenced teenagers

A traditional healer who influenced four Durban teenagers to get him the head of an Indian woman, should be sentenced to life imprisonment, according to the state.

Yesterday, the state prosecutor, Cheryl Naidu, said that the teenagers had been promised benefits by the healer, once they gave him the head.

“He provided them with traditional medicine in continuing with the plans to secure the head. He made them believe they’ll be protected from police and the law during the commission of the offence. He promised that they’ll be paid a large sum of money knowing their financial backgrounds,” Naidu said.

The court heard, that he had promised to pay them R2m.

In 2014, Desiree Murugan’s body was found at the Shallcross sports field near Chatsworth in Durban, and her head found buried in the healer’s home in Mfume, KwaZulu-Natal.

The head had been chopped into pieces and put into separate tins before burying them.

During the night of the murder, the teenagers had drugs.

Naidu submitted that the teenagers should not be sentenced to less than 20 years imprisonment, considering the crime they committed and the fact that they were underage when they did it.