Staff Reporter
A 24-year old man has appeared in court facing a charge of raping a minor last month after residents of an informal settlement in Bloemfontein effected a citizen’s arrest before handing him over to the police.
The suspect, Sanele Zweni, appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl that he is said to have forced to undress at gunpoint in his shack dwelling at the Shuping informal settlement in Batho on December 3 last year.
Mangaung police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Thabo Covane said members of the community who knew of the rape incident spotted the suspect walking into one of the houses in the area during the holidays and cornered him.
“They then called Batho Police Station and informed the police that they had arrested the . . . suspect,” he said in a statement.
“The police rushed to the scene and detained Sanele for rape.”
Covane said before the arrest, the investigation team followed information of the firearm that the suspect had used to threaten the victim during the rape ordeal.
They visited his shack as they were informed by the victim and found a Girsane 9mm Parrabellum pistol with an empty magazine during the search.
“The firearm was tested and came out as circulated ‘stolen’ during an armed robbery that happened on Wednesday, 15 December 2021,” Covane explained.
“Sanele and another man (allegedly) robbed a truck driver of the firearm and an undisclosed amount of money in Matlala Street, Batho location, at gunpoint.”
It is also believed Zwane robbed two people on December 23 along African Street at about 02:00, shooting one of them in the chest before running away with their cellphones.
A case of attempted murder and robbery were also opened at the same police station and he will be formally charged on the other cases.
Meanwhile, in a twisted quest for justice, nine people have been arrested in QwaQwa for fatally assaulting a man they accused of theft.
Warrant Officer Mmako Mophiring said in a separate statement the nine suspects, who are from Kgoptjane section, Bolata Village in Qwaqwa, allegedly assaulted the man they accused of stealing their belongings and he died instantly on the scene.
“. . . on Monday . . . at approximately 17:00 Tseki police were summoned to a crime scene at Kgoptjane section after community members reported assault of a man by a group of people.
“On their arrival at the scene, the police found the man lying on the ground . . . with multiple injuries and was declared dead by the emergency medical service,” said Mophiring.
An eyewitness told the police that the victim was at home with his cousin when a group of people arrived carrying sjamboks accusing the man of stealing their belongings.
They allegedly started beating him until he became unconscious.
An ambulance was summoned to the crime scene and the person, identified as Themba Petrus Pali, 25, of Semphurwaneng section, Bolata Village in Qwaqwa, was declared dead.
The suspects were also found at the crime scene in possession of sjamboks and nine of them aged between 21 and 39 were immediately arrested.
They will appear before the Tseki Magistrates Court on Wednesday, facing a charge of murder.
Free State Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane warned people not to take the law into their own hands and report criminals to the police.
She said: “Taking law into one’s hands has never been a solution within any society to curb crime . . .
“The person must be apprehended and handed over to the police without any injuries.
“Everyone is regarded innocent until proven guilty before a court of law.”