Court hears how bodies were discovered in case against alleged sex worker serial killer, Sifiso Mkhwanazi
Sifiso Mkhwanazi, who is 21 years old, faces six charges of murder, seven charges of rape, and a string of others.
Sifiso Mkhwanazi in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court on 4 July 2023. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - The murder trial against alleged sex worker serial killer, Sifiso Mkhwanazi, continues on Tuesday morning.
On Monday, the Johannesburg High Court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrates Court heard the testimonies of two of the State's witnesses in its case against 21-year-old Mkhwanazi, who is facing six charges of murder, seven of rape, and a string of others.
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Michael Damian, a caretaker of the building where the bodies were discovered, was the first to take to the witness stand, where he explained that a pungent stench led to him discovering one of the bodies.
His testimony was subsequently followed by Mkhwanazi's father, Mark Khumalo.
Khumalo sat mere metres away from his son as he retold the events leading up to the discovery of some of the dead bodies and Mkhwanazi's arrest.
Khumalo explained to the court that during the days leading to his arrest, trolley bins went missing, windows were left open for hours on end, and claimed that a dead cat was responsible for the pungent smell.
"That's when we started smelling something strange. Then I asked the people in the workshop what is smelling? The only answer I got was from him that there was a cat that died but he has cleaned it up.”
Leading up to his arrest, police viewed CCTV footage of Mkhwanazi and a woman who is believed to be his last victim entering the building.