Swazi Observer

FULL STORY

WOMAN (25) BRUTALLY KILLED BY LOVER IN FRONT OF FRIEND

By KHAYA SIMELANE | 2024-11-01

A 25-year-old woman has been brutally killed, allegedly by her boyfriend in front of her friend at DPS in Njomane (Mliba).

This latest gruesome murder of the young woman has left the community of Mliba and surrounding areas shocked.

It is said the mother of three Lindiwe Dlamini was invited to Mnjoli under the guise of a dagga cutting job.

The boyfriend *Mafutsa from Bangani in Mnjoli had allegedly hatched a plan to ask unknown women to call Lindiwe to come over as they had secured a job for her.

Knowing that she was unemployed, together with her friend Setsabile Mavimbela, the unsuspecting women undertook a journey to Mnjoli as they would be cutting dagga and get cash.

The boyfriend Mafutsa worked at Njomane as a seasonal labourer. He lived with his grandmother Lomahawu Dlamini estimated to be in her early 70s at Bangani in Mnjoli.

The deceased’s friend said; “On Tuesday at around 4pm, we got a lift from a Honda Fit and upon reaching DPS bridge, we alighted in the midst of sugarcane fields. An unkown man who was working in the fields advised us to take a few metres back and we did. However, we saw Mafutsa coming. As I was focusing on Mafutsa, Lindiwe started running and I also followed suit. He pursued us,” Mavimbela said. She said Lindiwe tripped and fell, thus Mafutsa caught up with her.

Mavimbela claimed that before Mafutsa hacked her friend with a bushknife, she was slapped with open hands by her livid boyfriend who also questioned why she was wearing pants.

“He started off by slapping her several times, but when I tried to discourage him, he drew the bushknife, threatening to hack me,” Mavimbela, who witnessed the gruesome murder, alleged. She was interviewed on her way home after being questioned by the Simunye police. Adding, Mavimbela claimed that Mafutsa hacked Lindiwe in the head, spinal cord and further slit her throat open. “She was already down when he started hacking her,” she further claimed.

This horrific murder in the same area comes barely a week after a Form V learner from a Gule family was also murdered, allegedly by her boyfriend in an almost similar style.

When this publication visited the deceased’s family at Mliba, her father Aaron Titilo Dlamini was found seated outside together with his son and a fellow mourner.

Revealed

Dlamini confirmed knowledge of Lindiwe’s relationship with Mafutsa.

He added that her daughter was recently staying with his boyfriend (Mafutsa) in a premarital arrangement (abemphekisa). The distraught father revealed that they did not have a child together, while Lindiwe had three of her own, the lastborn being a boy aged two.

Dlamini then referred this publication to his other daughter, Buhle who is the younger sister to the deceased.

Buhle said she received a call late on Tuesday from Setsabile - the eyewitness informing her about the passing away of Lindiwe.

Buhle revealed that her sister and Mafutsa had challenges lately such that she had returned home, barely a year after staying with him at his home which is located some 15km away from theirs. She claimed that Mafutsa suspected that her sister was still dating the father of her two-year-old son as she kept visiting the child’s home. Buhle alleged that Mafutsa’s suspicions infuriated them as a family because Mafutsa was allegedly the one that demanded that Lindiwe take her child to his parental home if she really wanted him to marry her.

It was agreed that Lindiwe would check on her child if and when necessary. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Senior Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said they were working tirelessly to apprehend the suspect who was currently on the run. Vilakati confirmed the gruesome murder of the 25-year-old woman.

“The police are still looking for the suspect,” she said.

share story