Burnt bones suspected to belong to two missing Mooinooi women found

Burnt bones possibly of those of two missing women from Mooinooi were found in thickets near the town, North West police said on Thursday.

Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Mpeile Talane said the bones were found on Tuesday, in the bushes along the R104 (old Pretoria-Rustenburg road) in Buffelsfontein near Mooinooi.

“The remains have been taken for DNA testing.We expect DNA results next week,” he said.

Joey van Niekerk, 32, and Gesina Sophia Anisha van Niekerk, 30, of Mooinooi, went missing on December 10. They left for a funeral in Pretoria but never arrived. Their car was found burnt on December 16 in the Magaliesburg area.

Two more people have been arrested in connection with the disappearance of the two women. An 18-year-old woman and a 39-year-old man were arrested in Rustenburg on December 29.

They appeared in court on January 2 and their case was postponed to January 5 for bail application, together with the other five suspects arrested earlier.

Aaron Sithole, 23, Koos Strydom, 53, Alex Mudau, 36, Moses Rakubu, 33, Vincent Strydom, 29, Maruschka Opperman, 18, and another man who can not be named until his aged has been verified as he claimed to be a minor, are facing two counts of murder, kidnapping, robbery, unlawful possession of a firearm and defeating the course of justice.

They were due to appear in the Brits Magistrate’s Court on Friday to apply for bail.

– African News Agency (ANA)

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