[Image: Faizel Patel / X]
The South African Police Service (SAPS) has roped in the specialised occult unit to investigate the murder of Roodepoort teenager Lukhona Fose (pictured above), whose mutilated body was discovered on Sunday.
The 14-year-old Grade 8 learner was last seen after leaving home with friends on Sunday before she disappeared. An intense search by family members, community members, and law enforcement officials followed, until a passerby eventually found Fose’s mutilated body under a shrub in Durban Deep and immediately notified police.
Deputy Minister of Police, Dr Polly Boshielo, said the girl’s genitalia was removed by the killers.
“It cannot be business as usual when women are attacked and killed on a weekly basis. It cannot be normal when a 14-year-old girl’s private part is mutilated and removed,” Boshielo said.
“The SAPS occult unit has been roped in to investigate this matter. The SAPS occult unit is responsible for investigating all cases where body parts are removed from victims for various reasons, including a hate crime or muthi crime.”
IOL spoke to criminologist, Prof Kholofelo Rakubu, who is the Head of Department at Tshwane University of Technology’s Department of Law, Safety and Security Management, regarding the disturbing nature of muthi crimes in South Africa.
“There are signs of an occult crime, which the occult crime investigations unit looks for. When they arrive at the scene, there are projects which tell them that this is an occult case. A body part must be missing, a particular body part is taken by the perpetrators and normally the perpetrators are not seen.”
“You have not heard of a situation where perpetrators of an occult crime were seen doing it, we hear about it afterwards. That is because they are very professional. They are rational thinkers, they take time to pounce on their unsuspecting victims.”
“To lure them, they take the victims to a designated place, they just do not do the killing at a tavern. They can dump the body somewhere, where it was not killed.”
Prof Rakubu warned against confusing ‘occult killers’ with your standard psycho killers, saying, “Sometimes a mentally disturbed person would do the crime in the same manner. They can kill their girlfriend, cut the body into pieces and keep them in a freezer because they are hearing voices and having psychological issues.”
Rakubu said occult killings can be traced to beliefs, rituals, and spiritualism, where sacrifices are made to certain deities, or body parts are believed to enhance businesses.
“It is not normally talked about, particular groups believe they have to appease their ancestors in that way. It is culturally transmitted. It is transmitted from one generation to another. Occult crime is generational. It also looks like it is hereditary,” she said.
It’s a terrifying thought that these horrendous rituals and beliefs can be passed down to younger generations.
[Source: IOL]
