Tonga - Three men admitted beating a villager with a sjambok and punching him, but denied killing him, during an appearance in the Boschfontein Regional Court, in Mpumalanga, on Friday.
Abraham Ntamane 31, and siblings Njabulo, 26, and Themba Mhlababe, 34, admitted that on March 2, 2013, they assaulted Bheki Isaac Shabangu after an argument in a tavern, a Sapa correspondent reported.
“We did assault him with a sjambok and punched him with fists, but we didn't intend to kill him. Community members arrived and started beating him badly,” the three said in statements.
Shabangu died later in hospital.
Magistrate Edgar Moletsane postponed the case to February 27 for judgment.
Sapa