Eight things you might have missed in the Karabo murder saga

23 June 2017 - 16:01 By Naledi Shange
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Karabo Mokoena.
Karabo Mokoena.
Image: Instagram/kayfab_27

Last month‚ the media was barred from reporting on the details of the bail proceedings of Sandile Mantsoe‚ accused of murdering 22-year-old Karabo Mokoena‚ whose burnt remains were found in a ditch in Lyndhurst‚ Johannesburg‚ in April.

The court on Friday rescinded its media ban. Here are some of the interesting facts you may have missed about the case. - Her alleged killer‚ Sandile Mantsoe is a married 27-year-old father of three children. At the time that he started relationship with Mokoena‚ he had been separated from his wife for a month. He claimed that he had an on-off relationship with Mokoena‚ because of her temperamental state. Nothing has been heard from his estranged wife and children.

1. Mantsoe said Mokoena was suicidal. He alleged that he had once had to call for the assistance of security because she had locked herself in his flat when she tried to take her own life.

2. He claimed that on April 28‚ he came back to his Sandton flat to find Mokoena dead on the floor. He thought she had succeeded in committing suicide. His affidavit did not contain any details on how he thought she had carried out the act.

3. Mantsoe alleges that some of Mokoena’s problems stemmed from the strained relationship the 22-year-old had with her father‚ Thabang.

4. In a television interview shortly after Mokoena’s burial‚ Mokoena’s mother Lolo was vocal about the allegedly abusive relationship her daughter was in with Mantsoe. Mokoena’s father is yet to speak about his daughter’s demise.

5. The investigating officer‚ Mantsoe had alleged that Mokoena had introduced him to a ritual practice wherein he and Karabo made blood covenants to boost his business. When the coupled parted ways‚ Mantsoe reportedly needed to break the jinx on his business and he reportedly told a police officer that he killed her to break the spell. Mantsoe has refuted this allegation

6. Mokoena’s friends and family have painted her as a God-fearing‚ religious and prayerful person.

7. Mantsoe told the court he disposed of Karabo’s body by burning her using petrol‚ a tyre and pool acid‚ saying he was not thinking straight at the time. A post mortem is yet to establish whether she was dead when she was set alight in a ditch on April 28. Her charred remains were discovered by passersby. - Mantsoe‚ a forex trader who makes between R25 000 and R50 000 a month‚ is seeking bail of R5 000. He has told the court that he will not interfere with investigations‚ contact witnesses or flee the country. Mantsoe said he does not believe that his life is in danger.

8. His case returns to the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on June 30 where Carlo Labuschagne is expected to deliver his ruling.

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