42-year-old John Botshabakelo last week admitted in strangling his girlfriend. However, the post-mortem conducted did reveal that the cause of death was strangulation and the horrific discovery was that the deceased was also raped.
Ikageng SAPS spokesperson, Kelebogile Trom, says the deceased was menstruating at the time because a bloodied sanitary pad was also found at the scene of the crime.
42-year-old John Botshabakelo briefly appeared in the Potchefstroom Magistrate court on Friday for a bail application for the alleged murder of a 33-year-old woman in Promosa Baipei. However, the suspect abandoned his bail application.
The court was full of angry women and others in ANC t-shirts who waited in anticipation for the bail application. One of the women says it is good he abandoned his bail application because he is not welcome in the community. “The community is angry because we are against women and men abuse. We don’t know what we are going to do with him if he gets bail,” she said sternly.
Trom says the police would like to urge the community not to take the law into their hands. “Mob justice is a criminal offence and the community must let justice take its course. We appreciate the fact that they assisted in apprehending the suspect until the police came to the crime scene”, she stated.
