Suspected Malalane serial rapist to appear in court
The Mpumalanga police have arrested a 23-year-old man they suspect to be behind the rape and robbery incidents that recently occurred.
According to the police, several defenceless women were raped and robbed of their personal belongings in both Matsulu and Kaapmuiden near Malalane between April and August this year.
The provincial police spokesperson, Col Donald Mdhluli, said in a statement that the suspect was cornered in Matsulu by a team of SAPS members of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) in Pienaar, was arrested on immigration charges and appeared in the KaBokweni Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
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“The FCS team in Pienaar were hard at work to apprehend the suspect. Meanwhile, information surfaced from members of the public about a suspicious illegal immigrant who was roaming around the streets of Matsulu. The details were then followed up and the SAPS members arrested him in the early hours of Thursday.
“During the tour of their investigation, the FCS team discovered he was the suspect they had been looking for for quite some time. On Saturday afternoon, he was charged on four counts of rape and three counts of robbery.”
Mdhluli said the police had also found some items belonging to females at the place where he had been arrested, which they now suspect are items belonging to his victims.
“The SAPS cannot rule out the possibility of linking the man to several cases in which women became victims of violent crimes,” said Mdhluli.
The suspect was due to appear in the Matsulu Periodical Court today.
