South Africa: 3 men charged with the murder and suspected rape of an 87-year-old (w) nun

[voiceofreason]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/0...oxnews/world+(Internal+-+World+Latest+-+Text)

South Africa: 3 men charged with the murder and suspected rape of an 87-year-old nun
Published April 29, 2015



JOHANNESBURG – Nuns at a rural convent in South Africa say they feel safer after the arrest of three men accused of killing an elderly colleague.

Police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said the three will appear in court on Wednesday, charged with murder, robbery and rape. Zwane said they were arrested on Apr. 27, about week after the attack.

A police statement said Austrian Gertrud Tiefenbacher was found dead in her room, her hands bound with a cord from an electric typewriter. Her face was covered with a towel, which suffocated her. Police also suspect she was raped.

Sister Gerald Frye of the Sacred Heart Home said the 87-year-old, known as Sister Stefanie, was buried on Monday in the KwaZulu-Natal province at the convent where she worked for more than 50 years.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/three-held-for-kzn-nun-s-rape-murder-1.1851008#.VUDzkJNTuKg

Gertrud Tiefenbacher, known as Sister Stefani, was murdered at the Sacred Heart Home in Ixopo.

 

[voiceofreason]

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/life-terms-for-nun-s-killers-welcomed-1.1859203#.VVjCvpNTuKi

Life terms for nun’s killers welcomed
May 15 2015 at 03:18pm

Durban - The sentences handed to the two KwaZulu-Natal men found guilty of the rape and murder of 86-year-old Catholic nun Getrud Tiefebacher in Ixopo last month was welcomed by the provincial commissioner on Friday.

The men guilty of rape, murder, and robbery – 24-year-old Sbongiseni Phungula and 25-year-old Mondli Shoza – appeared in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday and were sentenced to two life terms each for murder and rape with a further sentence of 18 years each for robbery.

Shoza and Phungula were convicted after they pleaded guilty to killing Tiefebacher in mid-April.

Tiefebacher was a nun at the Sacred Heart Convent in Ixopo, KZN, and was found dead in her room on April 18. She had been tied up with a typewriter cord, suffocated, and raped. Some of Tiefebacher’s property had also been stolen but was later recovered from the suspects who were linked to the crime through DNA evidence too.