>Roda Osman, 35
>Houston woman known as the “Brick Lady”
>Claimed a man threw a brick at her head outside a west Houston bar because she refused to give him her phone number
>Raised over $42,000 on GoFundMe for her “recovery”
>Video evidence proved the entire story was fake
>She was actually the aggressor
>Spent the donated money on trips to Jamaica & New York, restaurants, spas and rideshares
>Found guilty of theft by deception in October 2025
>Sentenced to 90 days in jail + 10 years probation, full restitution, GPS monitoring and a 10 year social media ban
This case shows why every accusation should be backed by concrete evidence and a proper investigation.
Many women are willing to fabricate stories for fame and financial gain.
SWORN STATEMENT BY SINDISO MAGAQA HITMAN MR SIBUSISO NCENGWA [CASE NO: CC35/2019]: PART ONE
Dated at Pietermaritzburg on the 6th of June 2025.
The sworn affidavit reads as follows;
“I confirm that I am the accused herein and that I know and understand the charges preferred against me, which are appearing on the indictment. My legal representative has explained to me the consequences of making this statement and I fully understand it.
I admit that I freely and voluntary made this statement, whilst in my sound and sober self and without having been influenced thereto by anyone and has at all relevant times been assisted by my legal representative.
I confirm that the prosecution has evidence to prosecute in the said offences.
The facts on which I plead guilty are the following:
Sometime around 11th July 2017, I received a call from Sbonelo Myeza while I was at Berea Centre in Durban, and he requested to meet with me downstairs of my flat. I found him standing with Jabulani Mdunge.
I then met with them and Sbonelo Myeza indicated that there is a job that we need to do in Umzimkhulu. I asked what kind of job that we need to do. The answer was that there is a person in Mzimkhulu municipality who wanted to report other people about corruption at the said Municipality. He did not mention the name of the person. He indicated that there are other people that we need to meet before we do the job.
The following day, we met at Berea Centre again. In this meeting, the following people were present including myself, Jabulani Mdunge, Sbonelo Myeza, Lindokuhle Nkosi, Mlungisi Ncalane and Mbulelo Mpofana.
In this meeting, Mbulelo Mpofana explained to us that he was also sent by 2 other people, for requesting assistance from us. I asked him to give us names of those people. He told us that they were the City Manager of the Municipality – Mr Skosana and the City Mayor- Mr Ndobe. The assistance they wanted was for us to go and kill the said person who wanted to report corruption which will implicate them.
Then we started to discuss the issue of payment, which was R120 000.00, only after we have done the job. Further that after that there will be a tender that we may get. I said to them that I am not familiar with the tender business and Mr Mpofana indicated that he will help me on how to apply for a tender. That tender will pay us R1 million.
The following day, which was on the 12 July 2017, I together with Jabulani Mdunge and Mlungisi Ncalani who was driving a Mercedes Benz drove to Umzimkhulu. There was also a BMW, red in colour, which passengers were Lindokuhle Nkosi and Sbonelo Myeza following us to Umzimkhulu.
Upon our arrival at Mzimkhulu, Mlu Ncalani, Sbo Myeza and Lindo Nkosi who were familiar with the area showed us the area and most importantly the home of the deceased Sindiso Magaqa). We were already given his photo to identify him.
The Mercedes Benz was parked near the home of the deceased and me, Mlu Ncalani and Jabu Mdunge were also near the deceased home.
The other vehicle was parked near the car wash area and Lindo Nkosi with Sbo Myeza were also there. They were looking after him so when he entered or passing the car wash, they can see him and tell us.
On this first day, while we were waiting for the deceased, his car emerged, and it was followed by a vehicle of Police officials. Then we left back to Durban without doing our instructed job. At this point we noted his car and the registration number.”
*Part 2 to follow…
By:#BaasKruger
Police pulled a crocodile out of a South African river last week and cut it open. Inside: a man's ring, his remains, and six other pairs of shoes that didn't belong to him.
The man was Gabriel Batista, 59. He ran a small hotel and bar in eastern South Africa, near the Komati River. On April 27, he tried to drive across a bridge that had flooded over. His truck got stuck. He was swept downstream and never seen alive again.
For a week, police searched the river with drones and found nothing. Then they spotted a single crocodile sitting on a small island, belly bulging, completely still while a helicopter buzzed overhead. Every other croc in the area slid into the water at the noise. This one didn't move. That gave them their answer.
A police captain was lowered on a rope. They killed the crocodile, lifted it out by helicopter, and flew it about 3 miles to Kruger National Park to be cut open. Batista's ring was inside. So were the six other pairs of shoes.
The crocodile was 15 feet long and weighed 1,100 pounds, about the size of a horse. Nile crocodiles like this one kill somewhere between 300 and 1,000 people every year in Africa. Around half of all attacks end in death.
Your bite is about 150 pounds of pressure. A lion's bite is 650. A saltwater crocodile's bite, the strongest ever measured in any living animal, is 3,700. That is enough to snap bone. Once those jaws close, the limb does not come back out.
Then there is how they hunt. A crocodile resting underwater can hold its breath for two hours. Its heart slows to two or three beats a minute, basically off. When it decides to move, it can swim at 18 miles an hour, faster than any human in any pool, ever. Picture a flooded river. The crocodile saw you the moment you went in. It picked the right second to move, and you never saw a ripple.
The Komati flows right next to Kruger National Park, in some of the most crocodile-heavy water on earth. The bridge Batista tried to cross is locally known to flood. December through March is the rainy season in this part of South Africa, when crocodiles breed and are most aggressive. Batista went in during peak danger.
The six pairs of shoes are still being tested. Police suspect at least some belong to other people the crocodile had eaten.
SAPS INVESTIGATES FATAL SHOOTING OF ETHIOPIAN NATIONAL IN JOHANNESBURG CBD
The South African Police Service has launched an investigation following the fatal shooting of an Ethiopian foreign national inside a shop in the Johannesburg CBD.
The incident occurred at the corner of Jeppe and Von Wielligh streets, a busy area in the inner city.
According to initial reports, the victim was shot and killed at close range. Emergency services responded to the scene, where the individual was declared dead.
This marks the second reported shooting involving an Ethiopian national in the CBD within a short period. A similar incident was reported earlier at the corner of Jeppe and Delvers streets, raising concerns about a possible pattern.
The motive behind the attack remains unclear at this stage. However, early indications suggest the possibility of a targeted killing.
Police investigations are ongoing, and authorities have not yet confirmed any arrests.
The National Prosecuting Authority has decided not to prosecute at least for now the 58-year-old man arrested for fatally shooting a motorist in a road rage incident in Emmarentia, Johannesburg, on Sunday.
The 58-year-old man arrested for fatally shooting motorist Faisal ul Rehma (in the picture) in a road rage incident in Emmarentia, Johannesburg, won't be charged for now.
A 15-pound honey badger can survive a cobra bite that would kill a full-grown man in under two hours. Then it finishes eating the snake. A biology grad student at the University of Minnesota wanted to know how. She needed badger blood to find out, and the only samples she could get were from two American zoos in San Diego and Indiana.
What she found in the DNA was one tiny change. There's a small socket on your muscle cells that your nerves plug into to tell your muscles to move. Cobra venom kills you by jamming that socket shut, so your lungs stop working. The honey badger's socket has a swapped-out amino acid that gives it a positive electrical charge. Cobra venom is also positively charged. Like magnets pointing the wrong way, the venom gets pushed off before it can lock in, and the muscles keep firing.
The same workaround showed up separately in hedgehogs and pigs. Mongooses got there too, with a slightly different molecular trick. Four different animals with no shared ancestor all arrived at the same solution because venomous snakes kept biting them for millions of years.
That only covers snakes like cobras and mambas. Puff adders work differently, destroying tissue instead of paralyzing muscle, and the DNA trick doesn't help there. So when a puff adder lands a solid bite, the badger collapses into a kind of coma for two or three hours. Then it wakes up groggy and eats the snake anyway.
The skin is maybe the unfairest part of all this. It's about a quarter inch thick, rubbery, and so loose it fits like a wetsuit two sizes too big. A lion can clamp its jaws on a honey badger and the badger will twist halfway around inside its own skin and start clawing the lion's face while still in its mouth. Bee stingers barely get through. Porcupine quills don't either.
Which brings us back to the bees in that photo. They're annoying. A few sneak through to the face, and enough stings have killed honey badgers in the wild. Honey badgers still die. But they're running three different defense systems at the same time, and one of them is a genetic lottery ticket evolution has pulled four times.
The older you get, the more you realize luck is mostly exposure. If you sit in the same place, have the same routine, talking to the same people, nothing new really happens. You have to tackle the world to win. Travel more. Talk to people.