Police arrest Mozambican suspect for rape and murder of Amantle Samane

Police have arrested a Mozambican national in connection with the rape and murder of six-year-old Amantle Samane in Orlando East, Soweto.

It is understood the man, who cannot be named until he appears in court, was arrested on Wednesday.

Samane’s half-naked body was found in an empty shack two streets away from her home on Monday.

SA Police Service spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo confirmed the arrest to The Citizen.

“I can confirm that the suspect has been arrested, more details will be given by the provincial commissioner [Tommy Mthombeni] at the media briefing at SAPS Eldorado Park.”

Attack

Masondo said the young girl was playing with other children when the man allegedly called her to his rented shack at one of the houses in Orlando.

“The suspect allegedly raped and killed the girl inside the shack. The matter was reported to the police, who immediately started searching for the suspect.”

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Suspect

Mandoza Masanabo, one of the owners of the property where the man lives, said they were shocked and had heard nothing unusual during the incident.

“We were inside our shack. We usually hear when he opens the door but yesterday it was quiet.

“It wasn’t until a group of boys came looking for him that we went to his shack and we saw her body on the floor. We broke the door down with an axe, but she was already dead,” he said.

The suspect had been renting the shack for five months.

Masanabo said the man seemed “quiet, friendly, always going to work.”

We’re horrified because if no-one had seen them or found her, we might only have discovered her body from the smell, or he could’ve buried her and we wouldn’t have known,” Masanabo said.

Additional reporting by Thando Nondywana

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