The man accused of killing popular Mthatha Catholic nun Sister Mary Paul Tacke was yesterday acquitted of her murder.
The 82-year-old Tacke’s body was found in a stream between Tyharha village and Nyandeni Great Place in Libode on June 16 2015.
She was abducted on June 15 as she finished delivering food to her children’s project, Thembelihle Home, in Norwood in Mthatha.
In August last year a post-mortem revealed the elderly nun was still alive when dumped in the stream.
State principal forensic medical officer Dr Sylvester Babalo Qaba testified that his post-mortem revealed Tacke had six fractured ribs. “I concluded that the cause of death was head injury, abdominal injuries, thoracic injuries, blunt trauma and drowning,” read his report.
Qaba told the court “the voluminous or massive fluid-filled lungs suggest that she was alive and breathing...hence the enlarged lungs caused by a large amount of water swallowed during the drowning”.
He said that there were bruises on both her knees, on her forehead, right jaw and right forearm.
Qaba said injuries to her head were caused by a blunt object. “This on its own right can cause direct death, especially in frail people,” he explained.
He said the fractured ribs could have also contributed to her death as she had breathed with difficulty and while in pain.
The acquittal of Ndikinda on the murder charge left no one responsible for the murder of the nun.
Tacke came to South Africa from the US in the 1950s and taught at the Catholic missionary school Mariazell before moving to Mthatha. She was the chairwoman of the board of Thembelihle Home and had supported the facility since its inception in 1996. She was also a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood.
Sentencing was reserved for today. — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
Court acquits man of elderly nun’s murder
The 82-year-old Tacke’s body was found in a stream between Tyharha village and Nyandeni Great Place in Libode on June 16 2015.
She was abducted on June 15 as she finished delivering food to her children’s project, Thembelihle Home, in Norwood in Mthatha.
In August last year a post-mortem revealed the elderly nun was still alive when dumped in the stream.
State principal forensic medical officer Dr Sylvester Babalo Qaba testified that his post-mortem revealed Tacke had six fractured ribs. “I concluded that the cause of death was head injury, abdominal injuries, thoracic injuries, blunt trauma and drowning,” read his report.
Qaba told the court “the voluminous or massive fluid-filled lungs suggest that she was alive and breathing...hence the enlarged lungs caused by a large amount of water swallowed during the drowning”.
He said that there were bruises on both her knees, on her forehead, right jaw and right forearm.
Qaba said injuries to her head were caused by a blunt object. “This on its own right can cause direct death, especially in frail people,” he explained.
He said the fractured ribs could have also contributed to her death as she had breathed with difficulty and while in pain.
The acquittal of Ndikinda on the murder charge left no one responsible for the murder of the nun.
Tacke came to South Africa from the US in the 1950s and taught at the Catholic missionary school Mariazell before moving to Mthatha. She was the chairwoman of the board of Thembelihle Home and had supported the facility since its inception in 1996. She was also a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood.
Sentencing was reserved for today. — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
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