Alleged serial mugger gives Bela-Bela cops a headache

A Zimbabwean national arrested following a string of robberies has left the police in Bela-Bela scratching their heads as to what next.

It all started with the suspect being cornered by members of the police on a dumping site in the vicinity of the local cemetery.

During the ensuing scuffle, a shot went off, reportedly with a bullet hitting the man on the lower jaw.

By Tuesday 1 October Bela-Bela acting station commander, Colonel Abel Phetla, said efforts to transfer the suspect from the local hospital for special treatment at Polokwane Hospital had
failed.

Phetla said the suspect was so aggressive that the police feared for the safety of the emergency services who were supposed to transport him to Polokwane.

Phetla said it was planned to take the man to Polokwane for a head scan, as a result of his injuries.

He said pending the man’s state of health, it was expected he would appear before the Bela-Bela Magistrate’s Court at an unconfirmed date next week.

The man was arrested following a tussle with the police on Friday 20 September.

The suspect is believed to have mugged a number of people, threatening them with a panga.

At the time Phetla said the suspect was targeting people who were going to work in the early hours, especially those heading to the Bela-Mall on the Waterfront.

The suspect’s modus operandi, Phetla explained, was pouncing on workers and shoppers carrying groceries, robbing them of their belongings.

Two of the victims were women, with one of them pregnant at the time of the robbery.

According to Phetla, a passer-by was going to work when the suspect approached him, asking for a smoke.

The man noticed that the suspect was armed with a knife in his pocket, and then returned to the township to raise the alarm, which led to the subsequent arrest of the suspect.

— The BEAT