SUSPECT GAMBLER KILLER APPEARS IN COURT

Alex Lundi Msibi (R) with a plain clothes police officer. (Pic: Mduduzi Mngomezulu)

MBABANE – The man who stabbed to death a gambler at the Mbabane bus rank is awaiting committal to the High Court.

Alex Lundi Msibi, 26, of Siphocosini made his first appearance in court yesterday before Magistrate Phathaphatha Mdluli. He did not have legal representation.

Msibi has been charged with murder. He is alleged to have committed the offence on Tuesday. He allegedly stabbed Melusi Mangena Khumalo, 28, of Mgazini several times in the chest and back. Msibi is alleged to have inflicted fatal wounds on Khumalo from which he died. The men were gambling near the bus rank toilet which is one of the gambling hotspots in the city. Msibi was arrested at the scene of crime after being assaulted by members of the public.

The Crown moved an application that he be remanded in custody until next Thursday pending committal to the High Court.
“You have been charged with murder. The court only has the right to remand you weekly. This court does not have the power to try you. Only the High Court can hear your application for bail which you may move through an attorney or on your own,” said Mdluli.

When he appeared in court his head was nearly completely covered in a white bandage and he was limping as he made his way to the dock. When asked what had happened to him, Msibi told the magistrate that he had been assaulted by members of the public at the bus rank.
The murder suspect is alleged to have stabbed the deceased after he pulled out of a game of cards.

Khumalo is said to have pulled out after he enjoyed a winning streak in the gambling game, something that did not go down well with one of the gamblers who had lost and confronted him out of anger.

The deceased was a well known gambler in the Mbabane central business district gambling hot spots. He is believed to have won E1 000 and a cellphone during the game of gambling known as ‘po-zasha’.

An eyewitness said he saw the assailant draw a knife and stabbing him once in the chest and Khumalo collapsed to the ground. This was after he had also been stabbed in the back as he tried to flee the scene.

Police Deputy Public Relations Officer Assistant Superintendent Khulani Mamba said the Mbabane bus rank was one of those areas where people gather to gamble. He said even at the parks, con artists and gamblers were rife as they target people who have come to relax.

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