Suspected serial rapist arrested
Months of hard work and dedication by the police have finally paid off. This is after the men in blue finally arrested the alleged serial rapist, suspected to be behind numerous rape and robbery incidents that recently occurred in Nkomazi area.
Mpumalanga News has been inundated with calls from community members demanding a police intervention since the first rape incidents occurred within the Nkomazi and Matsulu areas in April.
This newspaper informed the SAPS about this matter and was assured by the Mpumalanga police’s spokesperson, Col Donald Mdhluli, that they were aware of the issue and were already following up on leads.
According to Mdhluli, the 23-year-old suspect was cornered in Matsulu by a team of SAPS members of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit in Pienaar on Friday.
“According to the information at the police’s disposal, defenceless women were allegedly raped as well as robbed of their personal belongings between April and August in both Matsulu and Kaapmuiden. There were cases opened to that regard and the FCS Unit was assigned to probe as well as to ensure that the perpetrator is swiftly brought to book,” explained Mdhluli.
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He said the FCS team stationed in Pienaar worked extremely hard to apprehend the suspect.
“Our team, working and relying on information from the public, received intel about a suspicious illegal immigrant who was roaming the streets of Matsulu. The details were then followed up and the SAPS members arrested him in the early hours of Friday. During the tour of their investigation, the FCS team discovered that he is a suspect that they have been looking for, for quite some time,” confirmed Mdhluli.
He added, “On Saturday, the suspect was officially charged with four counts of rape and three counts of robbery. At the place where the suspect was arrested, the police also found some items belonging to females which we believe could be those of his victims. The SAPS cannot rule out the possibility of linking the man to several cases reported in which women became victims of violent crimes.”
The provincial police commissioner, Lt Gen Semakaleng Manamela, applauded and welcomed the arrest. Manamela is vocal and a staunch gender-based violence activist.
She urged those who had fallen victim to violent crimes in the past, but had never reported such cases, to come forward and report them at their nearest police station.
She commended the public’s valuable contribution in bringing the suspect
to book.
