A man was arrested near Bloemfontein in connection with the murder of a 41-year-old woman.
Police tracked the man to his house after the woman’s body was found along the side of a main road in the south-west of the city.
The woman, a teacher by profession, was reported missing shortly after midnight on Monday by her brother who had recently received a missed call from her.
The brother continued his attempts to contact his sister, going to her house in Rocklands where he found her car to be missing.
“Information led members to the house in Phase 2,” explained Free State provincial spokesperson Colonel Thabo Covane.
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The house belonged to the deceased’s boyfriend. Police found her car parked in his yard.
“A stand-off happened at the boyfriend’s house and attempts were made to have him exit the house were in vain. Tactical Response Team members were summoned to the scene and the team tactically accessed the premises and found the boyfriend hiding under the bed,” confirmed Covane.
Police stated that further investigations would reveal the details of the incident, but the Director of the Foundation for Education and Social Justice Africa, Hendrik Makaneta, alluded to what had occurred.
He confirmed via a press release that the Free State education department relayed that the 42-year-old accused is alleged to have driven a car over the body of his girlfriend multiple times.
Police had earlier confirmed that members of the community were angered by the incident and attempted to attack the alleged murderer as police were escorting him away.
Makaneta revealed that the woman was an educator at Tsoseletso Secondary School in Bloemanda.
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“The loss of life, particularly that of a teacher, is very distressing as it robs the country’s learners of quality time for learning and teaching,” said Makaneta in a message of condolences to family, friends and learners.
“It is unfair that the learners have to now go and bury their teacher. The education terrain as a whole is shattered. Education in South Africa is a right. By killing the teacher, the perpetrator has tempered with the learners’ right to learn,” Makaneta added.
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