NPA charges neighbour in Reneé Lea’s murder
Cuan Karelse is rumoured to have returned from the Eastern Cape to his family home across the road from the Lea-family less than two weeks before the attack on the night of August 23.
Cuan Karelse (21), the man suspected of murdering Reneé Lea (57), a prominent and beloved businesswoman in Standerton, lived a mere stone’s throw away from the Lea family on Coligny Street.
According to a source close to the investigation, it is rumoured that Karelse returned to his family home across the road less than two weeks before the attack on Lea on the night of August 23.
This source believes more culprits were involved in the crime. A resident who spotted two men with binoculars on the balcony of Karelse’s family home a few days before the murder now believes this was no coincidence.
“I thought nothing of it then, but now I cannot help but wonder if they were spying on the Leas.”
Karelse was arrested in the early hours of August 24 at a filling station in Moreleta Park and briefly appeared in court last week. The case was postponed to yesterday (September 2) for a possible bail application.
The National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson in Gauteng, Lumka Mahanjana, said Karelse faces charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and murder.
Mahanjana said he allegedly slipped into the deceased’s residence when she drove in her vehicle.
“It is alleged the accused tied her up, robbed her of her belongings, wrapped her [in] a carpet, put her in the boot of her car and drove to Pretoria.”
According to Mahanjana, Lea’s daughter could not reach her mother by phone, so she called a tracker company to locate the car.
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“The tracker company located the car at a petrol station in Moreleta Park while the accused was inside the shop.”
She said the petrol attendants pointed out Karelse as the person driving Lea’s stolen vehicle.
“The tracker company personnel apprehended the accused. When they opened the boot of the car, they found the deceased’s body with cables around her neck and her mouth covered with tape.”
The police were called and arrested Karelse. Found in the vehicle were stolen items like laptops, cellphones, jewellery, bank cards, and two firearms.
