Alleged serial killer of four Mpumalanga women arrested
The man is alleged to have killed four women in Mpumalanga since only May this year. He was arrested near Springs on August 11.
An alleged serial killer, Hlabirwa Rasie Nkune, appeared in the Delmas Magistrate’s Court briefly today, August 15, having allegedly been linked to the murder of Hillary Gardee and three other women in Mpumalanga this year.
Nkune (36) is facing charges of kidnapping, robbery with aggravated circumstances, possession of an unlicensed firearm with ammunition and murder.
The matter was postpend to August 22 for further investigation, and Nkune will remain in custody as he declined to apply for bail.
Following his court appearance in Delmas, Nkune will also be appearing in the KaNyamazane Magistrate’s Court tomorrow, August 16, in connection with the murder of a police officer and her sister in May this year.
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It is alleged that Nkune is also involved in the killing of another woman in Sundra in July.
Hillary Gardee (28), the daughter of the former EFF secretary general and attorney, Godrich Gardee, was abducted from the Mbombela CBD on April 29 and was found dead with a bullet wound in her head in some bushes near the Sabie/Lydenburg Road on May 3.
Nkune was the fourth suspect to be arrested in connection with Hillary’s murder and was tracked down by a multidisciplinary team of both Gauteng and Mpumalanga police in Springs, Gauteng, on Thursday August 11.
The other three suspects in the matter are Sipho Lawrence Mkhatshwa (39), who was arrested on May 6 in Schoemansdal, Nkomazi, Philemon Lukhele (47), the communications manager of the Office of the ANC Chief Whip of the Mpumalanga Legislature, and Albert “Khabzela” Gama (52).
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A Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, said Nkune was arrested in KwaThema near Springs, and was found in possession of a firearm with the serial number filed off.
“He is linked to three other murder cases of women in the Mpumalanga area,” said Mohlala.
On May 16, Lowvelder reported that two sisters, Pretty Mazibuko (42), who was stationed at the Ngodwana Police Station, and Marcia Mazibuko (43) were brutally gunned down allegedly by a male partner of Marcia’s. The partner was alleged to have been Nkune.
Nkune allegedly committed the double murder on May 15.
According to the information at the police’s disposal, an argument had broken out between the suspect and his companion when the woman’s sister and two other women intervened.
Nkune left and allegedly returned later with a firearm. He allegedly shot his partner as she attempted to flee in a blue BMW that was thought to have been driven earlier by the suspect.
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Nkune then allegedly went inside the house and shot the police sergeant before he fled the scene. The other two women escaped without being harmed.
The most recent murder occurred in Sundra last month.
The provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Manamela, said in an interview with eNCA’s Dan Moyane on DStv’s channel 403 that Nkune had allegedly assaulted another woman, also thought to have been his girlfriend, before throwing her into a body of water.
The woman was found and apparently identified Nkune, but later died as a result of her severe injuries allegedly caused by him.
