Mon. January 30, 2012
Cape Town, South Africa -
Four South African men who killed lesbian Zoliswa Nkonyana back in 2006 should be sentenced this week -- if there isn't another delay in the trial.
The court has found Lubabolo Ntlabathi, Sicelo Mase, Luyanda Londzi and Mbulelo Damba guilty of murdering Nkonyana on February 4, 2006. The men chased her, stabbed her and stoned her to death for being openly lesbian. She was 19.
TimesLive said the case has been "beset by delays, bungling and escape from custody" and postponed "about 50 times."
Violence against LGBT citizens is common in South Africa, experts testified during the trial. Some lesbians are targeted for what's euphemistically called "corrective rape" -- an act of sexual violence that is supposed to turn the woman straight.
The main witness in the case was attacked on the opening day of the trial, Triangle Project reported.
As Monday's sentencing hearing began, Jill Henderson of the Triangle Project presented a report that said 80 percent of South Africans viewed homosexuality as wrong.
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