South Africa: Former rugby star arrested after axe killings

There is lots of speculation as to who the ex-rugby player is that went on an axe-wielding killing spree in Durban, South Africa. Rugby is played mainly by the White population (with a few Affirmative Action quota players thrown in to balance the racial books) so the assumption is that the perpetrator is White (or at least, that's what the ANC were praying for). Wrong. The most likely candidate is Joseph Ntshongwana, but we'll have to wait to find out who exactly it is. This person decided to use his axe to decapitate a couple of his fellow Africans and killed another by hacking him with the axe. The initial motive offered was that he was avenging his daughter's  gang-rape and subsequent HIV infection. Bizarrely, the police aren't sure whether the perpetrator has any children or what the actual motive behind the murders is. Seems to me he's a few cans short of a six-pack and "snapped". Maybe one too many rugby tackles; or maybe it's because he played for the Blue Bulls?

Hat tip: Julian B

A former Blue Bulls and South Africa U21 rugby player will appear in the Durban Magistrate's Court today in connection with last week's grisly axe killings of three men in Lamontville, Umbilo and Yellowwood Park in KwaZulu-Natal.


The 34-year-old played for the Blue Bulls' Currie Cup and Vodacom Cup teams and the South African Barbarians.
 
He was arrested on Tuesday - a week after the first of the bizarre deaths in southern Durban.
 
When police released information on the killings last week, they claimed the killer may have been avenging the rape of his daughter, who was infected with HIV during the ordeal.
 
However, police yesterday could not confirm whether the former rugby player has a daughter.
 
According to police, the axe-wielding man allegedly targeted random men who were returning from work at night.
 
A 27-year-old man, who narrowly escaped last Tuesday, told police he was returning from work when a man in a grey car with an Eastern Cape number plate drove past him slowly in Lamontville.
 
He alleged that the driver stopped the car, jumped out and accused him of raping his daughter and infecting her with HIV.
 
The man told police that the attacker pulled out an axe and tried to hack him, but he managed to escape.
 
A day later, Ndodo Hlongwa was decapitated in the area. His head was found in a bin in Himalaya Road in Merebank.
 
Two more bodies were found in Yellowwood Park and Umbilo.
 
Police allegedly found a 40cm axe and clothing belonging to one of the victims in the suspect's Yellowwood Park home.
 
The former rugby player will be charged on three counts of murder and attempted murder.

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