Man arrested in connection with murder of biker woman with flat tyre

A man has been arrested in connection with the murder and robbery of a woman after she had to stop because of a flat tyre on the N1 under the N7 bridge in Cape Town on Friday, Western Cape police said.

The victim is understood to be 45-year-old Zelda van Niekerk, who was riding a motorcycle and is being mourned by her family and the group Lady Bikers SA.

“She had stopped with a flat tyre and was robbed and shot in the stomach. She later died in hospital,” police said in a statement on Saturday.

On Friday night, at about 7.50pm, members of the metro police K9 unit, the gang and drug task team, and law enforcement stabilisation unit received a tip-off from the public of a firearm kept in a house in Kensington in Cape Town.

“The officers searched the house and a male occupant. They found a fully loaded .38 chrome special revolver on top of a wardrobe, 10 live rounds of ammunition, as well as different bank cards and a drivers licence in a dustbin.

“It was later found that the cards belonged to the woman who was robbed on the N1 under the N7 bridge earlier that day. She had stopped with a flat tyre and had been robbed and shot in the stomach. She later died in hospital.”

The 33-year-old suspect was charged with possession of an illegal firearm, suspected stolen property, illegal possession of ammunition, and was also suspected of murder pending the outcome of a ballistics test of the firearm which would be conducted by the South African Police Service (SAPS). He was detained at Maitland SAPS, the statement said.

– African News Agency (ANA)

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