Window fitter said he ate another man’s heart ‘to prove he was not gay’
A man has admitted ripping another man’s heart out, and said he did it to ‘prove he was not gay’.
Andrew Chimboza, 35, apologised to the family of his victim, and admitted that after slitting his throat and stabbing him, before tearing out his heart and eating it, that he had “exceeded the boundaries of self defence”.
The incident took place after Chimboza, who runs a window tinting business in the South African township of Gugulethu, said he was insulted by Mbuyiselo Manona, 62, after checking on a job he had done at the house of Manona and his girlfriend.
After being arrested, Chimboza told police that he had gouged out Manona’s heart “to show him that I am not a moffie”. The term moffie in South Africa refers to gay or effeminate men, in particular men who wear women’s clothes.
Appearing in court this week, Chimboza said: “I am sorry for what I have done and I have genuine remorse.”
He also said: “I was so angry that I did not remember how many times I stabbed him or where.”
Of eating the heart, he said: “He said: ‘I do not know why I ate it and I accept my actions were wrong and exceeded the boundaries of self-defence.”
In Chimboza’s plea explanation, he said Mr Manona had attacked him. He said Manona was in a fit of jealous rage, and accused him of sleeping with his girlfriend.
He said he stabbed the victim because he was “full of hate and jealousy.”
Prosecutor Jacqueline Sibiya said the incident was “very disturbing”, but said: “Because the removal of the heart was not the cause of death per se, it does not therefore have too much bearing on the plea of murder.”
Chimboza pleaded guilty to murder without pre-mediation and faces life in jail.
