Couple’s year-long run from the law comes to an end

The couple is suspected of killing Siphosihle, better known as Sipho, almost a year ago.

Both have been charged with murder, and they have appeared in the Palmridge Regional Court. The accused were remanded in custody and will appear again on July 23 for formal bail application.

Through tips from the public, police found Sipho’s father (36) and the father’s girlfriend aged 21, at about 1.45am on Friday, July 10. They were found hiding out in a shack, in Zonkizizwe Zone 1.

The police learned that after fleeing from Thokoza, the suspects went into hiding in Soweto for a few months, before they moved to KwaZulu-Natal. Detectives then got a tip-off that the suspects were back in Gauteng.

Sipho’s body was found dumped close to the railway line in the Hlongwane Section in Katlehong on August 17, 2013. Police believe that Sipho was apparently beaten to death. His body also had cigarette burns on his stomach.

According to Vosloorus SAPS spokesman Captain Piet Rossouw, it appears as if Sipho’s murderers killed him somewhere else before they dressed him in new clothes and then carried his body to where he was found dead.

Described as dedicated and committed to the service, the detectives, who tracked down the suspects in the murder of Sipho, are Detective Const John Lekalakala and Detective WO Polane Mokadi.

They launched an intensive hunt for the fugitive couple wanted in connection with the killing, and they have been searching for the pair for about nine months.

As they hunted the pair, the officers also asked residents for help finding the suspected couple.

According to Rossouw, the officers Lekalakala and Mokadi also attended the funeral of Sipho hoping that the father would make an appearance, but this proved to be a fruitless. They even staked out his mother’s funeral but he also did not appear.

“Finding the suspects proved extremely difficult as the officers didn’t even have pictures of the suspects, but the pair refused to give up hope,” says Rossouw.

“They carried out further searches, until last week, when they got a tip-off that the suspects were back in Gauteng.

“Congratulations to our members on a job well done. We are very proud of them. They have shown that they are dedicated and committed to their jobs. I want to remind law-breakers outside there that they can run, but they can’t hide.”

Rossouw also thanked the public for assisting the police in tracking down the suspects.

q In a previous article, the Advertiser, reported that after Sipho’s Identikit picture had appeared in the media on October 16, Sipho’s mother came forward to confirm to detectives that she is the biological mother of the slain child.

She told the detectives that she is the niece of Sipho’s father, and that the two had begun a relationship shortly after Sipho’s father came out of prison, when she was still under age.

The two subsequently separated, and the father relocated to Thokoza, where he lived with another woman (the alleged accomplice in the murder of Sipho).

In 2012 Sipho’s mother went to Thokoza to place the boy into his father’s care because she could no longer afford to look after him. She claims that she never saw her son up until she saw his picture in the media. – @FanieBoksburg