No arrests in Bagwandeen murder case
Police have lifted fingerprints from the recovered Subaru and are hoping to find a lead soon.
PINETOWN SAPS confirmed that two vehicles were hijacked during a police chase following Westville businessman, Yashin Bagwandeen’s murder on Tuesday, 14 July.
“Two cases of carjacking were opened at Pinetown police station and no arrests have been made,” said Slindile Shabalala, assistant communications officer for Pinetown SAPS.
A police officer, whose name is known to the newspaper, provided details of the robbers’ movement after they killed Yashin.
He said the robbers did not hit a house in Malvern, they were spotted on the M35 going towards Shallcross and were chased by police.
“They made a U-turn and came back on Hans Dettaman Highway, where they lost their way and ended up in a dead-end road, Sanctuary Road. We recovered the Subaru there and two of the suspects made their way to the waterworks on foot and hijacked a Ford LDV. They abandoned it at Paradise Valley where they hijacked a grey Toyota Hilux, which we recovered in Henwood Road in Pinetown. We found balaclavas, gloves and bolt cutters in the Subaru, which the detectives organised for fingerprints and DNA to be lifted,” he said.
Sgt Stephen Clark, communications officer for Westville SAPS, said there have been no arrests yet. “The Subaru has been examined for fingerprints and the case is being investigated by the Pinetown cluster detectives,” said Clark.
Mike Myers, the Westville CPF chairman, said there had been a spike in serious crimes in the Westville area recently, particularly in the last two weeks, including house robberies, hijackings and now Yashin’s murder.
“It’s hard to say if there is a crime syndicate working in the area but personally I think its either one or two gangs that have been operating here. The police are working on confirming this and bringing these criminals to book,” said Myers.
Yashvir Bagwandeen, Yashin’s brother, wanted to correct reports that were published in the daily newspapers about the gun have been pointed at his three-year-old niece’s face. The gun was pointed at both Larissa (his brother’s wife) and the child, but not directly against her face.
