Fears toddler killed in chilling copycat crime of girl sold for 'eyes and skin'
A mother has appeared in court along with a "witch doctor" over the brutal murder of her two-year-old daughter, who is feared to have been sold and killed for her body parts.
The haunting revelations brought shock back to South Africans that it could be a copycat case of evil mum Racquel 'Kelly' Smith, 35, who was jailed for life last week after selling her daughter for just £800. Schoolgirl Joshlin, 6, who vanished in February last year was never seen again after being sold - however in this latest case, a body was recovered and an alleged accomplice to the killing arrested. The details emerging from the latest case are renewing fears that up to a third of the more than 1000 children murdered each year in South Africa may be being targeted for body parts such as their skin and eyes.
Police had been searching for six months for the missing 'son' of mum Kuneuwe Shalaba, 33, after she said 'he' was snatched from her by three kidnappers who sped off in a VW Golf near Johannesburg. But cops investigating her claim that toddler 'son' Kutlawano was grabbed in the street discovered that, just two hours before she reported the abduction, a large sum of money had appeared in her bank account.
Mother-of-five Shalaba - who was struggling to make ends meet and feed her kids – received a year's money of R75000 from a mystery man, which she could not explain when detectives confronted her. Magistrates heard that she then not only confessed that she made up the kidnap story but had in fact led the police to believe they were trying to find her 'son' when the missing toddler was in fact a girl.
Shalaba of Boipatong township 40 miles south of Johannesburg in Gauteng Province had her phone calls analysed, which led police to a sangoma or 'witch doctor' working out of a nearby taxi rank. National Police Authority spokesman Lumka Mahanjana said that when arrested, the sangoma confessed his part in the disappearance of the girl and led officers to an abandoned mine.
Scenes of crime officers with shovels quickly discovered human remains which are currently undergoing a post-mortem to determine the exact cause of death - and if any of the victim's body parts had been harvested. So called muti killings – the taking of body parts from murdered children by a small percentage of sangoma's to make 'black magic' potions for the rich – claim 50 to 300 victims every year in South Africa.
Shalaba – who had been charged with human trafficking, conspiracy to commit robbery and making a false statement to police – was charged with premeditated murder when the body was discovered. NPA spokeswoman Miss Mahanjana confirmed that the sangoma named as Sebokoana Khounyana, 50, had also been charged with premeditated murder and human trafficking along with the girl's mother.
The prosecution believes Kutlwano – who was dressed as a boy and introduced to family and friends as a boy – was murdered on November 10 and that the mother reported him kidnapped on November 13. She was arrested on November 19 at home in Boipatong 40 miles south of Johannesburg and her daughter's body was found on May 29 buried in a shallow grave in the nearby town of Randfontein.
NPA spokesman Miss Mahanjana confirmed a post-mortem was underway to ascertain 'exactly what was done to the child' before death and whether any body parts were harvested from it. The shocking sale of little Kutlwano appears to be a chilling copycat case of that of an evil mother who was jailed for life last week for selling her six-year-old daughter for just £800.
Racquel 'Kelly' Smith, 35, was said to have been sought out by a traditional healer who wanted her daughter Joshlin for her 'light eyes and skin' - the girl 'vanished' from her township and was never seen again. Last Thursday the mother-of-three was sentenced to life behind bars by Judge Nathan Erasmus for human trafficking by selling her daughter Joshlin and for kidnapping her given an additional 10 years.
Her boyfriend Jacquen Apollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn were also given life sentences for their part in the shocking kidnap and sale of tragic Joshlin at Saldanha Bay 80 miles north of Cape Town. The fun loving schoolgirl was last seen outside her home last February and the 8 week trial at the community centre in Saldanha Bay heard she was almost certainly sold into 'exploitation and slavery'.
The South African Police insisted that the search for her will continue 'night and day' until she is found and have begged her mother to reveal what happened to Joshlin but she refused to co-operate. The court heard drug user Kelly had told friends and a local pastor she had sold Joshlin for R20,000 (£835) in February last year to a sangoma and was later charged by police over her disappearance.
The case rocked South Africa and highlighted the hundreds of cases throughout Africa of 'healers' – known as sangomas or 'witch doctors' – who take children to use body parts to make 'miracle potions'. So far in neither the Joshlin or Kutlawano cases this fate is strongly feared but has not yet been proved.
Huge superstition still holds sway over large parts of the African population who highly respect and fear the sangomas and pay them large amounts of money for their so called 'black magic' potions. Between April 2024 and March 2025 South African Police figures revealed some 1100 children were murdered but as there is no specific category for muti killings it is estimated at between 50 and 300 a year. Both accused killers Shalaba and Khounyana will appear before the same magistrate on June 5.
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