The murder trial of a Soweto man who allegedly cut up a woman's body and stored her body parts in a deep freezer resumed in the Gauteng high court this week.
Flavio Hlabangwane’s alleged actions shocked the Protea Glen community when the gruesome discovery was made in 2021.
IOL previously reported that a woman had discovered a dismembered body in the freezer. The woman was visiting her boyfriend, who she had met on social media. She slept over after their first date and made the gruesome discovery while looking for something to cook.
Hlabangwane was charged with murder and contravention of the Inquest Act in that he failed to report the body of the deceased to authorities. He was scheduled to undergo mental observation.
The National Prosecuting Authority’s Phindi Mjonondwane said the State provisionally granted an application to tender hearsay evidence.
"Hlabangwane pleaded guilty to killing Tshepang Pitse and thereafter dismembering her body parts to store inside a fridge. The prosecutor, senior state advocate Johan Badenhorst, accepted the plea on two of the charges, except for the murder charge," she said.
Advocate Badenhorst said it was prudent for the state to tender evidence to expand on the allegations levelled against the accused.
He added that it was important for the court to hear evidence about the nature of the relationship the accused had with Pitse, so it could assess and evaluate the evidence in its entirety.
Mjonondwane said the court heard evidence from the first state witness who confirmed that she was Pitse's friend.
The trial continues on Thursday.
IOL