Third lion murder accused dies

The third accused in the Limpopo lion murder case, Richard Mathebula, has died after a long illness. Polokwane police spokesperson Moatshe Ngoepe says 36-year-old Mathebula died in the Nelspruit prison hospital. He was accused of the murder of Nelson Chisale together with Simon Mathebula and Mark Scott-Crossley. The three threw Chisale into a lion enclosure near Hoedspruit last year. Simon Mathebula was sentenced to 15 years, three of them suspended for five years, while Scott-Crossley was jailed for life. Before he died, the court agreed to postpone Richard Mathebula’s trial because of his illness.