Rugby star faces axe rampage charges

FORMER South African rugby star Joseph Ntshongwana appeared in court for allegedly hacking three men to death with an axe.

The ex-Blue Bulls forward and Barbarians player is said to have been on the rampage after the gang-rape and HIV-infection of his daughter, local reports say. Ntshongwana, who appeared in a packed Durban court, was not asked to plead to three charges of murder, one of attempted murder and one of assault. He is a former flanker for 2010 national champions Blue Bulls. At least one of the bodies was decapitated and the head found in a dustbin almost 2 kilometres away.

Another victim’s head was left hanging “by a nerve”, police said. Details of the third man killed have not been released.