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The Botshabelo-based woman who had been decapitated, was given a dignified send off during her funeral on Saturday, 24 February. The victim, Lebohang Julia Khutsoane (52), is one of four victims (two women and two men) who were killed execution-style in an open veld near Botshabelo.
The grief-stricken family of Khutsoane are partially relieved they were able to bury all parts of their loved one while awaiting closure after her violent murder. The family was unable to conduct her funeral as they were awaiting the discovery of her severed head, which the police eventually found on 15 February, ending the search that was underway since 1 February.
Affectionately known as Keitumetse, the woman’s body had been kept for weeks during the police’s intensive search for her severed head.
According to the Free State police, the woman’s head was found in the vicinity of the Sepone River stream, where her body was discovered on 1 February.
Brig. Motantsi Makhele, spokesperson for the provincial police, confirmed that the severed head found in the vicinity of the river in question was that of Khutsoane’s. The woman’s family had reported her missing on 29 January after she did not return from a shopping complex in Botshabelo.
Makhele said the discovery of Khutsoane’s head also yielded the arrest of six young men, aged between 17 and 29 years, regarding the gruesome killings. He said charges against the suspects include murder (four counts), robbery, possession of an unlicensed firearm, and possession of suspected stolen goods.
Reportedly, the bodies of four murder victims were in a decomposed state when discovered by the police in the vicinity of the perennial river. Makhele said the bodies had multiple stab wounds and were all found not far from each other inside the stream, in thick vegetation. The police discovered the bodies on separate dates between 22 January and 2 February, after two persons alerted them after they came across the corpse of one of the victims.
Makhele said the police divers retrieved two bodies in the stream.
“Another decomposed body of a female was floating in the water about 50 m from the first scene. The other male victim had his throat slit and had multiple stab wounds in the chest and thighs. His hands and feet were tied and small bags containing sand were wrapped around his hands,” said Makhele. He said further probing revealed the killers used stones from the railway tracks running on the other side of the N8, adjacent to the railway line.
