Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Indigenous spiritual authority or imitation Aliwal North, Eastern Cape, South Africa · 2012

S v Latha: murder convictions after an accusation of bewitching relatives

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

adult relatives making a witchcraft accusation, older cousin who persuaded a second participant

Organization

No organization assigned

Spiritual nexus

The defendants' admitted account tied the killing to a belief that their grandmother had bewitched family members, caused illness and death, and posed an ongoing supernatural threat. The court convicted both defendants not only of murder but also of the statutory offense of imputing supernatural harm or naming another person as a witch.

  • Curse or witchcraft threat
  • Threatened spiritual consequence

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2012-05-09 · guilty pleas, convictions and sentencing

    High Court of South Africa, Eastern Cape Division at Grahamstown, S v Latha and Another, CC 20/12. The court convicted Bulelani Latha and Ayanda Gqongwa of murder and contravening the Witchcraft Suppression Act; Gqongwa was also convicted of common assault. Latha received twenty years for murder with five years suspended and a concurrent eighteen months for the statutory offense. Gqongwa received fifteen years for murder with five years suspended, plus concurrent terms of three months and twelve months on the other counts.

Appellate history

  1. Date in cited record · undefined

    undefined

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • witchcraft accusation
  • blame for illness and death
  • family persuasion
  • claimed supernatural threat

Primary record

Sources

high court judgment conviction and sentencing judgment High Court of South Africa, Eastern Cape Division, S v Latha and Another (CC 20/12) [2012] ZAECGHC 29; 2012 (2) SACR 30 (ECG) (May 9, 2012).

The sentencing judgment records the guilty pleas, admitted witchcraft accusations, family relationship, murder and statutory convictions, individual roles, mitigation analysis and exact sentences for both defendants.

Related record

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