[Fwd: Mob kills man after murdering 14-year old girl for her phone]

An angry mob of more than 80 people hunted down and assaulted a
22-year-old man before throwing him into his mother's burning shack. He
burnt to death.

On Sunday evening 14-year-old Nkateko Maheso, a pupil at Kondelelani
Secondary School, had gone out to meet friends just before 6pm when she
was fatally stabbed over a cellphone valued at R150.

The suspect, known to the two girls, apparently pulled out a sharp
object, ordering Nkateko to hand over her phone. Witnesses told police
that an argument ensued, resulting in the suspect stabbing Nkateko in
the neck, while the other friend ran for help.

"The suspect left the girl bleeding near a stormwater drain, and fled
the scene with the sharp object and the cellphone. But someone in the
community witnessed the incident and started screaming," said police
spokesman Sello Mangena.

Nkateko was taken to clinic B3 where doctors tried in vain to save her
life.

Meanwhile, angry residents baying for the blood of the suspect went
looking for him at his mother's house.

"Residents were very angry and nothing the police, the CPF or the
councillor said was going to stop them. They wanted this young man
because they were tired of his criminal activities," said community
policing forum chairman Harry Mazibuko.

The suspect's mother allegedly told residents she did not care what had
happened and they could go looking for her son and kill him.

"Residents were very angry with the woman and accused her of not
disciplining her son. They locked her in her home, broke a window and
threw petrol and set the shack alight. The woman and her 16-year-son
were saved by a female police constable who arrived and broke down the
door. Police moved them to a place of safety," said Mangena.

Another part of the mob arrived at the home with the bleeding and badly
bruised suspect who was apparently found hiding about 1km from his home.

"It seems when the mob found him he was badly assaulted. They brought
him to the home where the shack was still burning and threw him there,"
he said. He died in the inferno.

This article was originally published on page 1 of Pretoria News on
December 01, 2009