Grindr Gang Trial: Victim Recounts Harrowing Ordeal

The “Grindr Gang” trial continued in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday with powerful and emotional testimony from the victim himself.

The 20-year-old Wits University student described for the first time, in chilling detail, how a casual chat on Grindr turned into a night of terror that left him hospitalised for months and permanently scarred.

The victim’s cousin and a family friend had shared their versions of events in court the day before.

The seven accused, Sanele Ndlovu, Vikani Khanyeza, Sohollo Khumalo, Sphamandla Mavundla, Lungisani Mshabalala, Thulani Mazibuko and Khayelihle Zulu face charges of kidnapping, extortion, attempted murder and theft.

“I started getting scared”

The courtroom was tense and silent as the young man relived the events of that night under questioning from the prosecution.

He recounted how, on the night of 19 September 2023, he agreed to meet a man he had been speaking to on Grindr. The man had sent him photos of himself and later invited him to meet in person.

He initially declined, saying it was late and that he had no transport money. Moments later, he received a message saying that a Bolt ride had been ordered for him.

The victim said he was driven to a place he did not recognise, which he described as a hostel area. The man met him there and led him through a dark passage lined with shacks.

“He told me not to be scared, that everything would be fine,” the victim testified. “He then took me to a back entrance because he didn’t want people to see us.”

At the end of the passage were two doors. The man tried to open both; one was locked, and the other opened.

“He told me to go in and sit down on a chair in the room. He said he was going to look for a key for the other room.”

“Two people walked in — one had a knife”

While seated and using his phone, the victim saw two men enter the room.

“One of them had a knife. As soon as I saw the knife, I stood up and started begging them not to kill me. They told me to calm down, that they wouldn’t hurt me if I did what they said.”

He explained that the two men were not the same person he had been speaking to on Grindr.

The perpetrators tied his hands, forced him onto the bed and searched his phone, asking if he had sent his location to anyone. They demanded his banking PIN and began checking his accounts.

“They said they were looking for R30 000,” he told the court. “They said if I didn’t give them the money, they would not let me go.”

When he told them he didn’t have money, he suggested they contact people on his phone who could help, including his father and friends. Among those contacted was his roommate, who testified earlier in the trial about receiving ransom messages that night.

“You see what you made me do”

The victim said that when he kept asking what they planned to do to him, one of the men, the one holding the knife, became angry.

“He punched me. I could taste blood running from my cheek into my mouth,” he said quietly.

“He then took the top I was wearing and wiped the blood. He said, ‘You see what you made me do. I didn’t want to see blood.’”

The man with the knife warned him not to make noise.

“He said if I continued to talk, they would hurt me for real,” the victim testified.

The group blindfolded him and tied him up with a rope. While blindfolded, he could hear the voice of the man with the knife nearby. He eventually fell asleep.

“They threw me on the floor and choked me”

A day passed. The victim said he became hungry and asked for food. The kidnappers discussed what to get him to eat, but he was in too much pain to eat when food was eventually offered. One of the men tried to feed him. His blindfold began to slip, and he could see that several people were in the room.

Later, when the perpetrators tried to move him from the bed to the floor, they threw him down roughly. One accused him of hurting him during the fall.

“I denied it,” the victim said. “He got angry, assaulted and choked me. When I was running out of breath, he let go. As I tried to catch my breath, he told me I was making too much noise.”

Identifying the perpetrators

The victim identified accused number 2 as the person he had spoken to on Grindr and who met him at the location. He also pointed to accused number 4 as the man who carried the knife and assaulted him. He could not identify the second man who had entered the room with accused 4.

He told the court that after being rescued by police, he woke up in Milpark Hospital’s ICU, where he spent nearly two months recovering from severe head injuries and a broken wrist.

“When I woke up, I couldn’t move the left side of my body. I couldn’t speak,” he said. “I had surgery on my head and my wrist, and I needed therapy to learn to talk and move again.”

He has since resumed his studies in Biomedical Science but said the trauma and physical effects remain with him.

The black jacket

The prosecution also presented physical evidence, a black jacket recovered by police.

The victim confirmed it was the one he had been wearing on the night of the kidnapping. His cousin, who testified earlier this week, claimed she saw one of the accused wearing the same jacket during a previous court appearance.

When asked by the prosecution about the perpetrators’ state of mind, the victim said he believed they were under the influence of something.

“I was sober,” he said. “But the way they were acting, I don’t think they were.”

What’s Next

The trial will continue Monday, 10 November 2025, when the defence attorneys representing the seven accused are expected to cross-examine the victim.

Civil society organisations including Iranti, Parents, Families and Friends of South African Queers (PFSAQ) and MambaOnline were again in attendance to support the victim and his family.

The “Grindr Gang” case has become a rallying point for LGBTQ+ activists calling for greater protection and accountability in a country where queer people continue to face targeted violence both online and offline.