South African woman murdered in Mozambique – media claims of husband’s arrest false
The husband of a South African woman murdered in Mozambique has not been arrested as reported by other media platforms.
It was reported on Tuesday (today), that Faan Prinsloo was arrested on either 4 or 5 October and has been denied bail after the murder of his wife Petro (50) in Matola in Maputo.
However, the Middelburg Observer spoke to Mr Prinsloo last week, on Thursday 11 October, and published his interview in the Friday 12 October edition.
This morning (Tuesday), www.mobserver.co.za managed to get hold of Mr Prinsloo again, who laughingly confirmed that he has not been arrested, despite media reports to the contrary.
“They cannot arrest me, no matter how much they want to,” Mr Prinsloo said.
It was reported in the Middelburg Observer that Petro Prinsloo was killed on Thursday 27 September. She was discovered by her domestic worker.
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The Middelburg Observer reported that family of Mrs Prinsloo, living in Middelburg, said that on that fateful day, Mr Prinsloo left for work at around 06:30 as per usual. Mrs Prinsloo spoke to her niece over the phone at the time when her husband left and to her son at around 07:00 that morning. Her domestic worker discovered her body at 07:30.
Mr Prinsloo rushed home from his place of work after being informed of his wife’s murder.
Mr Prinsloo’s business partner, Aida Mahomade and a former employee Alsino (surname unknown) were arrested on the same day Mrs Prinsloo’s body was found.
Mrs Mahomade lived in the same complex as the Prinsloo couple. Her arrest follows an investigation by Mozambican police. It was found that Mrs Mahomade and Alsino have been planning the murder for two months, communicating via Mrs Mahomade’s domestic worker’s cellphone.
Video footage from security cameras at the complex, shows how Mrs Mahomade sends her domestic worker to run errands, before she switches off the power to bypass the security cameras at the gate and the Prinsloo homestead.
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She later admitted to police that she allowed Alsino access to the property. Alsino was instructed to drown Mrs Prinsloo in the pool but bashed her head against the floor and against a step leading to the bedroom, until she died. She was overpowered whilst eating breakfast in the kitchen.
Mr Prinsloo said that it seemed like the scene was tampered with, with Mrs Prinsloo’s body being placed in an awkward position and some of the blood on the scene being cleaned.
“There were sheets with blood on the scene. But the sheets do not belong to us. I don’t know where it came from,” Mr Prinsloo said.
Both Mrs Mahomade and Alsino admitted the above to police in a statement, Mr Prinsloo said.
In an unexpected twist, the two arrested suspects summoned a Mozambican television channel to prison and admitted to the murder on television. Mrs Mahomade added that she and Mr Prinsloo were having an affair and that she killed Mrs Prinsloo because she had found out about it and threatened her husband with divorce.
The interview was repoted on by www.mobserver.co.za’s sister publication, Lowvelder.
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She also claimed that she promised Alsino R25 000 (100 000 meticais) for the murder and that Mr Prinsloo was working away from home on the island Santa Maria.
Mr Prinsloo told the Middelburg Observer that her claim of an affair is an outright lie and that her version on television was laced with inaccuracies. He said that he suspects his wife was killed in order to frame him for the murder.
“If I was arrested and convicted of murder, it would get me out of the way so Aida can take over the business,” Mr Prinsloo said.
He said that her sudden claim of an affair was aimed at pulling him down with her.
A source told the Middelburg Observer that Mrs Prinsloo previously discovered ‘black magic’ powder in her house and suspected that someone was trying to bewitch her. She was an avid Christian. On the day of Mrs Prinsloo’s murder, a cross she wore around her neck was found ripped off and lying in a pool of blood. Police allegedly discovered the same black magic powder Mrs Prinsloo found, in Mrs Mahomade’s house after her arrest.
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