PICS: Husband and accomplices arrested for kidnapping and attempted strangulation

A KwaZulu-Natal husband and two accomplices were arrested in Coffee Bay, Eastern Cape, for kidnapping and attempting to strangle his wife to death.

On Sunday, a 34-year-old woman contacted Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) requesting urgent assistance.

This came after her husband of three years allegedly robbed her of jewels, a white GWM vehicle, and strangled her with the assistance of two men who loaded her unconscious body into a vehicle on Saturday.

Wife accused of affair

RUSA said that, according to the woman, her husband accused her of having an affair with her ex-boyfriend.

“The woman woke up on the seat of a silver Toyota Etios while a coloured male was attempting to dump her body in a sugarcane field… She sustained serious injuries.”

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On Monday, the reaction officers recovered the wife’s vehicle in rural Umzinto in KwaZulu-Natal before following up on 129 tip-offs between Jozini, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mthatha, Eastern Cape.

After travelling 560 km, the reaction officers tracked the victim’s husband, 37, and his accomplices, a 40-year-old man and a 42-year-old female, to a home in Coffee Bay, Eastern Cape.

“They were hiding out in a one-room home on a mountainside. The officers later recovered the silver Toyota Etios used to dump the victim’s body in rural Coffee Bay.”

Wife threatened to not open case

RUSA said the woman was arrested when reaction officers learnt that she had loaned her silver Toyota Etios (used to dump the victim’s body) to transport the wife, and she had been sending intimidating messages to her to discourage her from pursuing the criminal case.

Reaction officers also interviewed the other accomplice, currently on parole for a double murder and several armed robberies.

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He told the officers that he was forced to transport the body, and he was surprised when the wife became conscious. He added that she jumped from the moving vehicle, and on seeing this he fled the scene.

“Reaction officers then interviewed [the husband], who explained that he attempted to kill his wife as he could no longer maintain her expensive lifestyle. He added that his wife had insisted on staying at a five-star hotel almost weekly for two years at a cost of R300 000,” RUSA said.

Cannot maintain wife’s expensive lifestyle

Allegedly, during an argument, the wife threatened to dump him for a wealthier man if he could not support her lifestyle.

“He further explained that on the day of the incident, he had checked out of the expensive five-star hotel in Umhlanga, KZN, after booking in for a month. He then decided to kill his wife. [The husband] informed officers that he had a rope in his pocket and intended to commit suicide by hanging when he learnt that RUSA officers were searching for him.”

All the suspects were detained at the Coffee Bay Police Station, and the fourth suspect is still at large.

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