Christmas day murder solved in less than a day
Police track down knife-man within 24 hours.
WITHIN 24 hours of a Christmas day murder in Clairwood, three determined police officers tracked down and arrested the killer.
After leaving a local tavern, a 22-year-old man was stabbed in the neck and chest at the corner of Houghton and Persadh roads. He was rushed to King Edward VIII Hospital, where he died at about 2am the following morning.
A witness who saw the stabbing and another who saw the man running away with the murder weapon, an okapi knife, were able to give police a description of the attacker and the clothes he was wearing.
Brighton Beach SAPS Warrant Officers Grobler and Jonker and Constable Sanele Ngcobo took this information to the community in search of the identity of the killer. They were rewarded with a name of a man who lived in Pine Road.
The officers found a blood-stained shirt, trousers and denim cap at the house – all of which matched descriptions given by the witnesses. A determined Cons Ngcobo continued to question local residents and was able to find a family member and the mobile number of the killer.
When he called the man, Cons Ngcobo was able to convince him to turn himself in, citing eyewitness accounts and the blood stained clothing they found. Less than 24 hours later, on 26 December, he handed himself over to the police.
During questioning, he told Cons Ngcobo the knife was hidden under a mattress in an apartment in South Coast Road. It was quickly retrieved and sent for DNA and fingerprint analysis, along with the bloody clothing.
The man has been charged with murder, but has not yet pleaded. He will appear in Durban Regional Court on Thursday, 8 January, where police will oppose bail.
“The three-man detective task team is congratulated for the manner in which they applied their investigative skills to identify the suspect from only eyewitness descriptions. Their team work not only led to retrieving sufficient tangible evidence linking the suspect to the deceased, but to the speedy arrest of the perpetrator and recovery of the murder weapon. Cons Ngcobo is commended for the perseverance he showed in tracing the perpetrator and ensuring the murder weapon’s location was made known during questioning,” said Brighton Beach SAPS communications officer, Captain Louise Le Roux.
