Tazne van Wyk’s hand was cut off for muti by alleged child rapist and killer Mohydian Pangaker.
This was the shocking testimony of the accused’s twin sister, Nazley, in the Western Cape High Court on Thursday.
Pangaker, 55, was in tears as Nazley revealed that he had made the muti claim in Goodwood Prison after his arrest.
Tears flowed in the courtroom as the parents of the eight-year-old girl took the stand as the state’s first witnesses.
Pangaker faces 27 charges which relate to the events which led to Tazne’s death.
The Grade 3 pupil from Eurecon Primary School went missing on 7 February 2020 when she was snatched just metres from her home in Clare Street, Ravensmead.
Hundreds of mense flocked to the Cape Flats community as they went in search of the child, who went missing without a trace.
Pangaker was later arrested in Cradock in the Eastern Cape and while on his way back to Cape Town, he told cops where to find her body – she had been dumped in a stormwater drain in Worcester.
Shocking court documents have revealed that Tazne had been raped, killed and her hand cut off just a day after she went missing.
In her testimony, Nazley told the court that her brother and his family visited her Elsies River home in November 2019.
She said she was told that they had come from Durban and that his daughter had a three-month-old son with her.
Nazley said the daughter claimed the child’s dad had died in Durban. It was later revealed, however, Pangaker is the biological father.
She said after a short stay, they left and she never saw them again.
On 8 February 2020, community workers visited her home and questioned her about her brother.
This was when she heard about the disappearance of Tazne and asked her cousin to provide a picture for the police, which was later circulated in social media.
State prosecutor, Lenro Badenhorst, revealed that while on the run, Nazley had called Pangaker and asked him to hand himself in.
In an eight-minute recording of the call, she was heard begging him to return and face the claims that he had kidnapped Tazne, but Pangaker continuously denied this, saying he is “gatvol” of what people are saying.
Pangaker tjanked in the dock while the recording was played.
Nazley revealed that after his first appearance at Goodwood Magistrates’ Court, he asked to see her and she visited him at prison.
“He told me he got on a taxi and was assaulted by Africans and heard the child scream. There were two ouens that hit him. But he never explained further,” she testified.
During cross-examination, Nazley shocked the court when she revealed that her brother told her the girl’s hand was cut off for muti.
“Yes, he spoke about muti, about the child’s hand being chopped off for muti.
“I can’t remember what he said exactly. He said maybe the chopping off of the hand was for muti.”