Woman accused of schoolboy murders denied bail

The woman accused of orchestrating the murder of two Durban schoolboys in September last year – allegedly an act of a lover scorned – was denied bail by the Durban Magistrate’s court on Tuesday.

Amahle Maliwa had made a fresh bid for liberty as she awaits trial‚ previously having abandoned her hopes for bail after she’d first appeared in the dock.

Maliwa‚ along with alleged co-conspirator Liziwe Ngwayishe‚ are accused of the murder of Njabulo Mankayi and Luyanda Msomi‚ both aged 10-years-old‚ last year.

Maliwa had apparently been engaged in a sordid affair with Mankayi’s father and is alleged to have kidnapped the pair in retaliation for his ending of their dalliance.

In opposition of bail‚ investigating officer Marius van der Looy submitted that the boys had been lured to Maliwa's shack on the day they went missing. “Maliwa and Ngwayishe allegedly forcefully gave the two boys potassium permanganate to drink…thereafter they were led to two different areas of bush where they were strangled to death‚” he said in an affidavit placed before court.

He said that‚ in his opinion‚ Maliwa would attempt to evade trial if she was released on bail.

The young boys‚ considered inseparable friends‚ were last seen boarding a bus on their way home to Clairwood. Msomi’s battered body was later discovered days later in a thicket in the south Durban basin.

Thereafter‚ Mankayi’s sodden body was found dumped in a canal on Durban’s Bluff.

The pair will face two charges each of murder‚ kidnapping and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.