Man arrested for alleged murder of young girls at Masoyi #CrimeStop
NELSPRUIT - A 22-year-old man believed to be responsible for the murder of two young girls aged six and seven whose bodies were found in a ditch, in the morning of 24 April 2019, at
Mganduzweni Trust in Masoyi, near White River, was arrested on Tuesday, 28 May 2019. The two girls had last been seen the previous day, 23 April 2019 playing near their parental home. Contrary to popular belief by some community members at the time that some body parts were missing, no single body part was found to be missing except for the fact that the younger girl had allegedly been raped.
Subsequent to that, a sangoma was then reportedly consulted by members of the community, who in turn falsely accused two men, a local Pastor and his nephew as the ones responsible for the siblings' demise. After the consultation, the community soon burnt the two men to death and torched
their houses as well in an apparent act of vigilantism.
In another gruesome incident, the same suspect was found to be responsible for the murder of 20-year-old Khensani Sambo, who was reported as missing on 26 March 2019, at Shabalala Trust, near Hazyview. A police investigation was then launched and it soon pointed towards the suspect, hence the arrest. He pointed out the place where the body had been dumped and indeed it was found, albeit at an advanced stage of decomposition. On the very same day after the police had left, some community members burnt the suspect's house down, hence an arson case is also being investigated.
The suspect who is reportedly related to the young girls claimed that on the fateful day, he had taken the two victims and handed them over to some other people, however police investigation is underway to validate those claims.
The suspect, Tshepiso Mokoena briefly appeared at the Kabokweni Magistrate's Court for the murder of Sambo and was remanded in custody and will reappear at the same court on 05 June 2019.
The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma once again condemned acts of vigilantism by members of the community as they have the potential of having innocent people falling victims to the uncontrollable ire of the community.
"We have always maintained that mob justice, also known as vigilantism, is not only illegal, but inherently has the potential of having innocent people suffering the brunt of the community and usually end up being killed", said General Zuma.
Anyone with information that may assist police in their investigation is urged to contact Captain Timothy Mushwana on 082 449 0223 or the SAPS Crime Stop number, 08600-10111.
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