There were muffled whispers which instantly grew into audible murmurs inside the courtroom when the magistrate made a short statement that the prosecuting authority was withdrawing murder charges against three of the six accused in the Mutonga ritual murder case last Friday.

The state withdrew the charges against Meshack Mkhwanadzi (20), Meshack Malange (22) and Shadrack Malange (22) on the basis that investigations could not link them to the crime. “There are no DNA tests which link accused number 3, 5 and 6 to the crime which the six accused are facing,” said the state prosecutor during the hearing at the Louis Trichardt Magistrate's Court.

Then soft whispers grew into murmurs inside the courtroom, from the dock (by the other accused) and from the gallery.

The three men, along with Frans Madzive (54), David Mnisi (28) and Reynie Abraal (32), were being accused of allegedly removing Mr Phillip Bendzani's genitals before setting him alight at Mununzu Farm outside Elim on 16 May, 2012.

Accused number one in the case, Frans Madzive (55), told the court that his family, which consists of two wives and 16 children, was living in abject poverty and an insecure abode in Elim while he remained in custody. The angry community had apparently burnt Madzive's property in the early hours of 26 May 2012 in response to his arrest, after Bendzani was murdered. However, the court reminded Madzive that he was refused bail on 19 September 2012.

Reynie Abraal, another accused, requested to see the DNA results, so that he could see with his own eyes how the three accused were not linked to the crime while he remained in custody, with a possibility of standing trial on a charge of murder. The court ruled, however, that he could only submit new evidence, if he had any, once the trial had started.

Meanwhile, it has since emerged during the bail application that Madzive was the one accused of having devised the whole scheme to kill Bendzani because the deceased had allegedly been stealing conjugal pleasures with two of Madzive's wives.

The case was postponed to 25 October for the director of public prosecutions to consider the case for a trial in the High Court.

Madzive, Abraal and Mnisi remain in custody.