'Ancestors told me to eat flesh'
9 February 2010, 06:53
By Shaun Smillie and African Eye News Service
A cooked human head, a liver and a basket full of entrails were what police officers found when they searched the North West home of a man who claimed to have eaten his relative.
The remains belonged to 57-year-old Gopolang Elias Serache, and he was killed and partially eaten because his alleged murderer said he had been told by his ancestors to consume human flesh.
Serache went missing in Khunwana Village, near Delareyville, on Friday, according to police. His family reported him missing yesterday, and it was after investigators questioned the man with whom he was last seen that they learnt of his fate.
The 30-year-old relative had confessed to the killing, police said.
"He killed him with a knife on Friday at the old man's home and then, using a wheelbarrow, carried the body to his residence. There, he cut him into pieces like he was slaughtering an animal," said police spokesman Superintendent Lesego Metsi.
Police who arrived at the suspect's home could smell decaying flesh, said Metsi. The dead man's head had been cracked open and parts of the brain consumed. There were intestines hidden in a basket and a cooked liver.
"The man said his ancestors had instructed him to kill Serache, then cook and eat him," Metsi said.
The suspect is expected to appear in the Atamelang Magistrate's Court on Thursday.
This latest case of suspected cannibalism comes as the Traditional Healers Organisation reported yesterday that about 1 000 families nationwide had claimed that corpses of their dead relatives had been harvested for muti before burial last year.
"About 900 bodies had some parts missing, especially the breasts and genitals," said Phephisile Maseko, national co-ordinator of the healers' organisation.
He expressed concern that in most cases, police were involved in protecting those people - often wealthy businessmen - who bought human body parts in the belief that it would boost their businesses.
A cooked human head, a liver and a basket full of entrails were what police officers found when they searched the North West home of a man who claimed to have eaten his relative.
The remains belonged to 57-year-old Gopolang Elias Serache, and he was killed and partially eaten because his alleged murderer said he had been told by his ancestors to consume human flesh.
Serache went missing in Khunwana Village, near Delareyville, on Friday, according to police. His family reported him missing yesterday, and it was after investigators questioned the man with whom he was last seen that they learnt of his fate.
The 30-year-old relative had confessed to the killing, police said.
"He killed him with a knife on Friday at the old man's home and then, using a wheelbarrow, carried the body to his residence. There, he cut him into pieces like he was slaughtering an animal," said police spokesman Superintendent Lesego Metsi.
Police who arrived at the suspect's home could smell decaying flesh, said Metsi. The dead man's head had been cracked open and parts of the brain consumed. There were intestines hidden in a basket and a cooked liver.
"The man said his ancestors had instructed him to kill Serache, then cook and eat him," Metsi said.
The suspect is expected to appear in the Atamelang Magistrate's Court on Thursday.
This latest case of suspected cannibalism comes as the Traditional Healers Organisation reported yesterday that about 1 000 families nationwide had claimed that corpses of their dead relatives had been harvested for muti before burial last year.
"About 900 bodies had some parts missing, especially the breasts and genitals," said Phephisile Maseko, national co-ordinator of the healers' organisation.
He expressed concern that in most cases, police were involved in protecting those people - often wealthy businessmen - who bought human body parts in the belief that it would boost their businesses.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of The Star on February 09, 2010
Durban
