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Mashudu Netsianda Senior Court Reporter
A TEENAGER fatally stabbed his aunt seven times with a kitchen knife before ordering the woman’s nine-year-old son to clean the blood-stained weapon, a court heard yesterday.
Justice Maxwell Takuva heard this when the boy, 17, from Bulawayo’s Pumula South suburb, appeared before him at the Bulawayo High Court charged over the killing of Oppah Ndlovu, 46, in August last year.
The teenager lived with his aunt because his mother is in South Africa.
It is alleged he launched into the frenzied knife attack after his aunt confiscated his cellphone containing pornographic material.
Ndlovu’s son, Tapelo, now aged 10, yesterday took to the witness stand and narrated how his cousin ordered him to wash the blood-stained knife that was used to kill his mother.
“I was bathing when I heard my mother screaming and calling out my name. I immediately stormed out of the bathroom and saw blood splattered all over the lounge and my mother’s bedroom,” said the visibly traumatised boy.
Tapelo, who was testifying in camera, said he tried to run away but his cousin caught up with him. “He covered my mouth so that I couldn’t scream and ordered me to mop up the blood- stained floor and clean the knife which he used to kill my mother,” said Tapelo.
He said the teenage killer, who cannot be named because he is a minor, ordered him to accompany him to their neighbour’s house and made him lie about how Ndlovu died.
The teenager, through his lawyer Nomakhosi Sandi, said he killed Ndlovu in self-defence.
The trial continues today.
derick.khumalo