Crime updates: Manhunt in EC, rapist father sentenced, child murderer in custody

The state of crime in South Africa is more ‘worrisome’ than ever, to paraphrase Police Minister Bheki Cele a day after he released the first quarter’s crime stats.

Weekend crime updates

Murder of 10-year-old boy

A 41-year-old man handed himself over to authorities in Mhluzi after fatally shooting a 10-year-old boy at a soccer match.

Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said the incident took place around 6pm on 14 August when teams competed at the sport grounds in Mhluzi.

Mohlala added: “The tournament [was] completed and thereafter participants left with only a few people remaining. It is said that a sound of a gunshot was heard then the young boy was seen falling down.”

Mohlala said the boy sustained a gunshot wound to the head and was confirmed dead at the scene. While police were following a lead later in the week, the man handed himself over.

He is expected to appear in the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 22 August 2022, facing a charge of murder.

ALSO READ: SA’s murder hotspots: Cele’s hunt for ‘urgent solution’ a few years too late

Father sentenced for daughter’s rape

A father from Mahushu in Hazyview who had raped and impregnated his biological daughter in 2019 was sentenced to 22 years behind bars.

According to Brigadier Mohlala, the 17-year-old teenager was lured to her grandparent’s residence under “a false pretence to perform rituals”.

When she arrived at the property and realised her father had not provided any of the items needed for the ritual, she demanded to go back home.

“[Her father] offered to accompany her home, knowing very well that he had orchestrated an evil plan against his own daughter,” Mohlala said.

“At around 22h00 along the way, next to Mahushu graveside, the victim was instructed at gunpoint to undress, then he raped her. He further warned her not to tell anyone about the ordeal”.

After a lengthy case, the 38-year-old man was sentenced at the Nelspruit Regional Court earlier this month.

Eastern Cape manhunt

Police launched a manhunt for an armed robber who accosted a police officer in the Engcobo area on Saturday.

According to Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana, the officer had attended a complaint of a person who was raped and was accosted after he had taken the victim to a medical institution.

The officer – who escaped the incident unharmed – was forced out of his vehicle at gunpoint. Once the suspects fled in the vehicle, he reported the incident to the police station.

Kinana said the vehicle was found in the Sigidi forest nearby and the suspects are still large. Local villages and communities are being searched.