Former rugby player in court over axe murders

A former South African rugby player appeared in court in Durban today after he allegedly hacked three men to death with an axe in revenge for the rape of his daughter. According to police, he tried to decapitate the men. In one case, the head was found in a dustbin. In another, it was left "hanging by a thread".

Joseph Ntshongwana, who played as a forward for the Blue Bulls of Pretoria, had apparently driven around the Durban townships for several days, stalking his victims before approaching them with an axe he carried in an orange bag.

One man apparently died as onlookers approached Ntshongwana. "They thought the guy was hacking at a dog or an animal of sorts, but then realised it was a human being," a senior police officer, Anton Booysen, told the press.

"Someone shouted at him, 'What the fuck are you doing?' He then apparently stopped and casually walked away, and it didn't seem that he was disturbed at being caught."

A fourth man survived. Khangelani Mdluli, 27, told the Cape Argus newspaper how Ntshongwana turned his car into a driveway when he spotted him in the suburb of Lamontville.

"He stopped the car, jumped out with an orange plastic bag and walked down the road towards me," said Mdluli. "I continued walking but I looked at the plastic bag. He said to me: 'Did you know we would ever meet?'"

Ntshongwana then allegedly accused Mdluli of being a rapist, telling him: "You think I'm stupid. You infected my daughter with HIV."

When Mdluli asked the man who his daughter was, he responded by pulling an axe out of the bag.

"I ducked and it scratched my stomach," said Mduli. "I started running down the road as he followed me and swore at me. He eventually gave up and turned back to head to his car."

Police have not been able to confirm whether Ntshongwana's daughter was gang-raped and infected with HIV as he told Mduli, because neither he nor his daughter has officially made a complaint.

"It was a statement raised by one of the victims," said a police spokesman. "We do not have any substantial evidence of a rape charge levelled by the suspect's daughter."

Ntshongwana will remain in custody pending a bail hearing next week.

By coincidence, another former Blue Bulls player, Bees Roux, is currently awaiting trial after allegedly beating a black policeman to death last year. ·