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Image of ON TRIAL: Gcobani Gwayi, 22, in the dock in Mthatha High Court yesterday, which was sitting in Butterworth. He is accused of killing nine-year-old Vika Nqwiliso in 2008, allegedly for muti purposes. Picture: ALAN EASON

A CONTESTED confession of a man charged with child murder describes how he was promised R5000 to harvest human body parts from a living person.

Gcobani Gwayi is accused of murdering nine-year-old Vika Nqwiliso, who became the first victim in the Kei Ripper series of killings in 2008.

Gwayi has pleaded not guilty to murder and rape, and now denies confessing, saying he was “tortured” by police into making the statement .

Yesterday, harrowing details of the confession were read out in the Mthatha High Court, which is sitting in Butterworth where the crime was committed.

Two police officers also testified yesterday to validate the statement Gwayi gave them.

The accused was arrested in Cape Town seven months after the murder, in Mcucuzo village near Butterworth, in October 2008. The boy’s mutilated body was thrown into the Gcuwa River.

Gwayi allegedly told police how he was approached by a man who asked him to harvest body parts for muti.

In the statement, read before Judge Zamani Nhlangulela yesterday, Gwayi said he was promised R5000.

The trial started on Monday, when the accused took the stand and was cross-examined by State prosecutor Mfundo Makhubalo .

Two officers from the provincial task team formed to investigate Vika’ s killing, as well as other similar murders in the area, yesterday told the court how Gwayi had confessed to the murder.

“Gwayi told me what happened on that day and the money he was promised by (a man) . He was told to look for a person whom he will kill for body parts, and it was preferred that the victim must be alive at the time the parts are being harvested,” Captain Thembisile Gulwa of Dutywa police detectives told the court. Gwayi then told of how the man had dropped him in Mcucuzo village to search for a victim, Gulwa added.

He found four boys at a nearby forest and approached them, Gulwa testified . Gwayi said he had lost a cow, and asked the boys to help him find it, Gulwa said. “Then, as they were busy searching, he sat them down and he asked them if they could play a game of killing each other. The boys asked if they will wake up again and he told them that he will be able to wake them up after the killing,” said Gulwa.

The decision was to start with Vika, the youngest .

“A sharp instrument was used to cut open the boy’s chest while he was still alive, the penis was then cut off, the liver was also removed and the little finger was also hacked off. All this time the boy was crying,” read the statement by Gulwa.

“He then stopped crying.”

One of the boys apparently asked Gwayi to stop because Vika was dying.

“I told them he will wake up,” Gwayi said in the confession . Gwayi then allegedly asked the boys who would be willing to take Vika’s eye out, but none agreed because they were afraid.

Gwayi then used a sharp object and took the boy’s eye out, the confession read .

At this stage of the testimony, Vika’s mother, Nobuntu Nqwiliso , fled the court room weeping. “I couldn’t listen to that . It’s a painful statement that brings back memories of how my young son was murdered,” she said afterwards.

Gulwa testified: “All the parts that he (Gwayi) harvested were put in a plastic bag and he rushed to a car that was waiting for him in the village. They drove away and he was given R3000 and was promised the balance later.”

A second State witness, Captain Bathandwa Hanise, told the court Gwayi led them to the murder scene after his arrest .