- A Durban woman planned the murder and kidnapping of a 10-year-old girl.
- Zandile Nsele was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday.
- After kidnapping Sphumelelo Mzimba, Nsele removed her victim's organs.
A Durban woman thought she would solve all her financial problems by kidnapping and killing a neighbour's 10-year-old child, and then carving out her victim's organs to sell.
Afterwards, even though the child was dead, she put the child's family through further torment by giving false hope the little girl was alive, by demanding a ransom for her safe return.
Zandile Nsele, 40, was sentenced to life imprisonment for kidnapping, murdering and then removing the organs of 10-year-old Sphumelelo Mzimba.
She kidnapped Sphumelelo in June 2019 in the Nazareth area, near Pinetown, by luring her away on the pretence that she would take the child to the shop to buy chips.
The girl lived with her mother in the same area as Nsele. They knew each other, and often visited each other's homes.
"Nsele, who was unemployed and experiencing financial problems, decided to kidnap the victim and ask for ransom from her parents.
"She also planned to kill the child and sell her organs and/or soft tissue. To this end, she prepared a place to dispose of the body," said National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Natasha Kara.
"When the child arrived at her house, Nsele restrained her and bound her neck and ankles, thus fatally injuring her.
"Once the child was dead, Nsele removed some of her internal organs and soft tissue, and disposed of the body in the prepared spot."
That night, Nsele contacted the child's mother to demand R20 000 for the child's safe return. The next morning, she fled to Johannesburg, where she made two subsequent calls to the mother.
She was arrested shortly afterwards.
During court proceedings, the senior State advocate, Cheryl Naidu, led cellphone tracing evidence, which linked Nsele to the ransom messages sent.
"Evidence of the findings of the postmortem confirmed that some of the child's organs were removed. A neighbour also testified that Nsele had asked her to help with digging the hole."
Nsele was sentenced to life for murder, six years' imprisonment for kidnapping, nine years' imprisonment for the attempted extortion, and 10 years' imprisonment for contravening the National Health Act.
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