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Police in Free State have pounced on a man in his 40s in connection to the murder of a woman, whose body was found inside a pit toilet on Christmas Eve.
The suspect was apprehended at a nearby township after fleeing the crime scene on Sunday, according to the provincial South African Police Service (Saps).
Before his arrest, Kopanong police had received a tip-off about an alleged body wrapped with sellotape inside a shack in Caleb Motshabi, Bloemfontein.
“Members rushed to the address and on arrival they found the shack locked but drag marks were spotted leading to the pit toilet.
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“Upon inspecting the pit toilet, they made discovery of the body of a 34-year-old female, who was identified as Sinah Bantjies, wrapped in sellotape and covered in mud,” Free State police spokesperson, Mahlomola Kareli said in a statement.
Kareli said a 43-year-old man who had was identified as a suspect.
He was traced and arrested in Botshabelo by Kopanong police detectives.
The suspect is expected to appear in Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on a charge of murder.
In separate incident, the bodies of two women were found in the same area days before.
Kopanong police had received a call around 4pm on Wednesday, 20 December, about two bodies in a shack in Caleb Motshabi.
“Members rushed to the scene and discovered the bodies of two females, aged 91 and 66, on the bed. The victims’ neighbour made the discovery after she last saw the 66-year-old while in their yard earlier that day,” Kareli said.
The victims have been identified as Sarah Sentlholo and her 66-year-old daughter, Rebecca Moyetsane.
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The police initially opened two cases of inquest for further investigation before preliminary postmortem results revealed that Sentlholo died of poisoning, while Moyetsane was strangled to death.
A manhunt has since been launched to find the “ruthless killers” behind the two murders.
The police have appealed to any person who might have information that might be useful to the investigation to contact Kopanong police station.
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