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CNN Live At Daybreak

In South Africa, an Unusual Case

Aired February 18, 2004 - 05:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In South Africa, an unusual case to tell you about. A farm owner has been jailed on suspicion of ordering another man to feed one of his former workers to lions.
Live to Johannesburg now and our bureau chief there, Charlayne Hunter-Gault -- Charlayne, it's unbelievable something like this could happen.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the nation is clearly stunned by this, Carol.

Actually, the man is a building contractor who worked, who was working at a game farm. And this employer -- employee worked for him. They found his, a skull, a leg bone and tattered clothes which resembled the shirt the man was wearing when he went to this farm to pick up some pots.

Now, the building contractor, Mark Scott-Crossley, had fired the guy and allegedly burned his clothes. And the guy, Nelson Chisale, went to the police and filed a charge. And then he went back to pick up these pots. And this is when he allegedly was beaten.

Yesterday, Tuesday, at the bail hearing, one of the men who was there told us that Mark Scott-Crossley took a wire and he gestured and choked this man to death and then forced three of his workers, including the one who was telling us this, to throw this man over an electrified fence into an enclosure, where he said he saw at least four lions.

Now, the DNA results have not substantiated that this was Nelson Chisale, but he hasn't been seen since he entered that farm property -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Charlayne, what will happen to the suspect or suspects in this case?

HUNTER-GAULT: Well, one of them, the one who told us the story, has been granted immunity from prosecution because he's turned state's witness. The others are waiting -- awaiting a bail hearing. Yesterday outside the court, several dozen demonstrators were demanding the death penalty, even though the death penalty doesn't exist anymore in South Africa. The bail hearing will be conducted at the end of this month and the charge of murder or premeditated murder -- they're debating now which to give -- will be laid at that time. But a provisional charge of murder has been laid against Mark Scott- Crossley and two of the three men -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Charlayne, is this reverberating across the entire country?

HUNTER-GAULT: Well, I think people are seized with it, especially because there have been two or three incidents, even one today, where a white farmer dragged his worker behind his truck and fractured his skull, and he eventually died. Yesterday there were some very disturbing signs in front of the trial, where the trial was being held, like "Kill the farmer, kill the Boer," and that goes back to pre-apartheid, when there was real tension between white farmers and black liberation fighters. And that was one of the slogans that has since been outlawed as hate speech in this country.

But it was defended by the mayor of Phalaborwa, where this trial will be held, saying that this expresses the frustration of a lot of farmers and other laborers who are not getting a fair deal from their white employers.

So I think that the nation will continue to be seized with this as the case moves forward -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Charlayne Hunter-Gault live from Johannesburg, South Africa.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 18, 2004 - 05:39   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In South Africa, an unusual case to tell you about. A farm owner has been jailed on suspicion of ordering another man to feed one of his former workers to lions.
Live to Johannesburg now and our bureau chief there, Charlayne Hunter-Gault -- Charlayne, it's unbelievable something like this could happen.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the nation is clearly stunned by this, Carol.

Actually, the man is a building contractor who worked, who was working at a game farm. And this employer -- employee worked for him. They found his, a skull, a leg bone and tattered clothes which resembled the shirt the man was wearing when he went to this farm to pick up some pots.

Now, the building contractor, Mark Scott-Crossley, had fired the guy and allegedly burned his clothes. And the guy, Nelson Chisale, went to the police and filed a charge. And then he went back to pick up these pots. And this is when he allegedly was beaten.

Yesterday, Tuesday, at the bail hearing, one of the men who was there told us that Mark Scott-Crossley took a wire and he gestured and choked this man to death and then forced three of his workers, including the one who was telling us this, to throw this man over an electrified fence into an enclosure, where he said he saw at least four lions.

Now, the DNA results have not substantiated that this was Nelson Chisale, but he hasn't been seen since he entered that farm property -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Charlayne, what will happen to the suspect or suspects in this case?

HUNTER-GAULT: Well, one of them, the one who told us the story, has been granted immunity from prosecution because he's turned state's witness. The others are waiting -- awaiting a bail hearing. Yesterday outside the court, several dozen demonstrators were demanding the death penalty, even though the death penalty doesn't exist anymore in South Africa. The bail hearing will be conducted at the end of this month and the charge of murder or premeditated murder -- they're debating now which to give -- will be laid at that time. But a provisional charge of murder has been laid against Mark Scott- Crossley and two of the three men -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Charlayne, is this reverberating across the entire country?

HUNTER-GAULT: Well, I think people are seized with it, especially because there have been two or three incidents, even one today, where a white farmer dragged his worker behind his truck and fractured his skull, and he eventually died. Yesterday there were some very disturbing signs in front of the trial, where the trial was being held, like "Kill the farmer, kill the Boer," and that goes back to pre-apartheid, when there was real tension between white farmers and black liberation fighters. And that was one of the slogans that has since been outlawed as hate speech in this country.

But it was defended by the mayor of Phalaborwa, where this trial will be held, saying that this expresses the frustration of a lot of farmers and other laborers who are not getting a fair deal from their white employers.

So I think that the nation will continue to be seized with this as the case moves forward -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Charlayne Hunter-Gault live from Johannesburg, South Africa.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com