Crime in South Africa

Man held for rape
May 11 2008 at 04:18PM
An 18-year-old man has been arrested for rape in Ramaphosa Village near Uitenhage, Eastern Cape police said on Sunday.
Spokesperson Priscilla Naidu said a 63-year-old woman was raped in her bedroom on Saturday at 4am.
He stabbed, overpowered and raped her, and afterwards he fell asleep on the bed.
The woman escaped and called for help.
A passing police van was flagged down and the incident was reported to them.
Police found him fast asleep on the bed, and he was arrested and was due to appear in court on Monday, Naidu said. - Sapa

Four arrested for brutal murder
May 14 2008 at 06:25PM

Four people were arrested for the murder of a 21-year-old woman in Bultfontein after her body was found in bushes by a passerby, Free State police said on Wednesday.

"She was found by a passerby in an open field next to Moloroane street, last Friday. When the passerby found her she was already dead," said police spokesperson Captain Magda Muller.
"Her stomach was cut open and her intestines were outside her body," she said.
In an investigation aided by the community, Bultfontein police arrested four people on Tuesday; three men aged between 16 and 26 and a 26-year-old woman.
The four were expected to appear in the Bultfontein magistrate's court on Thursday. - Sapa

Man killed for cellphone, R100
May 14 2008 at 03:32PM
A 53-year-old Durban man was shot dead outside his house before robbers took his cellphone and R100, police said on Wednesday.
Police spokesperson Captain Khephu Ndlovu said the man was shot dead outside his house in Durban's Umlazi area in the early hours of Tuesday.
He was shot several times before his attackers took his wallet and his cellphone.
Ndlovu said Shuka Nonyana's wallet contained R100 and his cellphone was a Nokia 6110.
A number of 9mm cartridges were found at the scene.
A case of murder had been opened. No arrests had been made. - Sapa

Man nabbed for 'raping' a grandmother
May 17 2008 at 10:21AM

A 22-year-old man has been arrested for raping a 72-year-old grandmother in Butterworth, Eastern Cape police said on Saturday.

Spokesperson Jackson Manatha said the grandmother was asleep at home in Zingqayi village on Friday, when the man broke into the house and demanded money and a cellphone.

"The old woman had none of both. The suspect then pushed the woman down and raped her in front of her grandchildren aged 6, 10 and 12," he said.

Manatha said the grandmother then went to her neighbours and reported the matter.

Manatha said the community members then went on a man hunt and apprehended the suspect.

SA 'at the mercy of barbarians'
15/05/2008 23:36 - (SA)

Pretoria - Prize-winning author André P Brink ranted on Thursday about the country's crime crisis after his nephew had been shot dead by robbers at the weekend.
"It's unacceptable that South Africa has been left at the mercy of barbarians," he said.

Adriaan Steenberg, 45, son of the deceased author Elsabé Steenberg (Brink's sister), was shot in the face in his bedroom in front of his wife, Leonie, 41, on Saturday morning.
They lived on a smallholding in Leeufontein in northeastern Pretoria.

The couple's three young children - 11, nine, and eight - had been sleeping when their father was shot.

Brink said from the Western Cape: "We must keep hoping at all times that someone will gain control because it doesn't seem as if the government can govern the country anymore."

Leonie said on Thursday that they had gone to Centurion to fetch her father-in-law, Professor Dawie Steenberg, 68, who had come to visit them. They went to bed about 02:30 on Saturday.
"I don't know what time it was, but my husband jumped up and said there was someone in the house," said Leonie.
The suspects gained access to the house through a window in the dining room.

"Adriaan told me to lie on the floor next to the bed. He also went to lie next to the bed.
"We heard footsteps on the stairs and my father-in-law shouting: 'Help, help!'

"Adriaan got up to press the panic button. He was only halfway upright when they shot him.
"I saw the flash and then Adriaan fell."

The robbers threatened Leonie with a firearm and ordered her to switch off the alarm, while saying: "We're going to kill you, we're going to kill."

They took her to Dawie's room where they tied up her hands and undressed Dawie before tying up his hands, too. They only left Dawie's shirt on.

Leonie said: "One stayed in the room with us and two were outside. My father-in-law rolled on his back and shut the door with his feet to keep them out. He also hit them with his cane."
"He stopped after they threatened to kill him."

Leonie told the robbers they should take what they wanted and leave. She just wanted to get to her husband to help him.
When they took her out of her father-in-law's room, one of the robbers was standing outside with a gun against her nine-year-old daughter's head.
"She wanted to cry, but I calmed her and took her to her grandfather."

The robbers took Leonie through the house and stole money, cellphones and a laptop.

At one stage, they left her alone in the room with her husband.
"I felt for a pulse, but there was nothing. I wanted to do something for Adriaan, but I couldn't."
Then Leonie heard more shots outside, apparently fired by a security company, and the robbers fled.
"It was unnecessary to shoot him," Leonie said.
"He believed he was good to everyone and that no one would hurt us."

It is unacceptable to leave yourself at the MERCY of barbarians.
Seems like those south africaners have been reading the US journalism manuals when it comes to guns.
Odd that SA has legislated guns out of existance in the public. Now, what are they going to do about those damn barbarians (many of whom obviously kept their guns despite the laws)?

Man beaten to death, girlfriend gang-raped
June 02 2008 at 01:57PM

A man was beaten to death and his girlfriend gang-raped in Edenvale, east of Johannesburg, Edenvale police said on Monday.
Spokesperson Captain Piet Mnyakeni said the man was walking with his girlfriend in Greenstone Hill, Edenvale, on Friday night, when five men pounced on them.
They severely assaulted the man, leaving him for dead in the veld and took turns raping his girlfriend.
The man died later in hospital.

Mnyakeni said four men were arrested on Saturday and would face a charge of murder and rape in the Germiston magistrate's court. - Sapa

Man cries as he tells of rape
05/06/2008 09:09 - (SA)
Liela Magnus, Beeld

Pretoria - A man, 52, cried in the Pretoria High Court while he told how inmates in a police cell raped him.
The man, a diabetic from Primrose, Germiston, is suing the Minister of Safety and Security and the Minister of Justice for R4.3m in damages.

He claims he was twice unlawfully arrested and that after the second arrest, he was raped in police cells.

He testified how he was arrested on February 28 at the magistrate's court in Witbank when he wanted to fetch a copy of his charge sheet.

Singing and dancing

According to him, he was kept in a cell along with 30 fellow prisoners in the holding cells at the Witbank police station.

He told how he was carried, naked, around the cell by four men while the rest sang and danced. The court had to be adjourned before the emotional man could continue testifying. "The singing and foot stamping became louder," he said.

He described how of the prisoners took one of the green mattresses in the cell, rolling it up lengthwise and put it in front of him. He was told to kneel down over the rolled up mattress.

"The intensity of the singing and dancing reached a climax".

The men started raping him. "I must have lost consciousness then. When I came to, they were still busy".

They later stopped and ignored him for the rest of the two days that he was kept locked up with them in the same cell.

He was taken to court where bail was set for R1 000.

But he could only call someone to bring him the money a day after his court appearance.

He also had to be taken to hospital as he had not been able to get his diabetic medicine while being in custody. The man said he asked the doctor to admit him because he was scared of going back to the cell. He did not tell the doctor or the police members what had happened to him.

A friend paid his bail, the case against him was dropped and the money paid back.

The case continues.

Brick attack revisited
June 05 2008 at 06:25PM
A man who has admitted he raped a woman told the Grahamstown High Court on Thursday he hit her so hard with a brick that it broke in half.
"I admit I hit her on the side of her head with a brick and yes, it was so hard, the brick broke in half, but I did not kill her," Thembekile Mpambaniso, 29, of Molteno testified."She was alive when I left her and I did not think she would have later died."
Mpambaniso is on trial for murder and rape before Judge Clive Plasket.
He pleaded guilty to raping Boniwe Swelindawo, 56, at the Nomonde Shopping Centre, Molteno, on Christmas Day 2006.

Two arrested in E Cape for possession of womb
So far 17 women had their wombs removed during gruesome killings
May 27, 2008, 06:30

Police in Ntabankulu in the Transkei have arrested two Malawi nationals after they were allegedly found in possession of human tissue identified as a womb.

From last August to January this year, some 17 women had their wombs removed during gruesome killings at Mzamba village near Bizana. Five other suspects, including a 17 year-old learner, were arrested recently in connection with the killings, believed to be associated with muti.
Most victims also had their genitals removed. Police are continuing with their investigations.

Farm worker gets 24 years for murder
June 09 2008 at 09:57AM

A farm worker will spend 24 years behind bars after being found guilty of killing his 78-year-old employer and having sex with her corpse.
Pretoria high court Acting Judge Peter Mabuse sentenced Amos Zulu, 57, to 18 years' imprisonment for the murder, 10 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances and six years for violating a corpse. The sentences for the murder and robbery will run concurrently.
Zulu had told the court that on February 12 last year, he had an argument with Johanna Erasmus on her farm near Bronkhorstspruit.
He slit her throat while she was standing in a goat pen. After taking her cellphone and having sex with the corpse, he went back to his work as usual.
Initially, Zulu had denied that he had sex with her. But after DNA evidence was presented to court, linking his semen 100 percent with that found inside Erasmus, he conceded he had had sex with the corpse.

Sixty six-year-old up for murder
June 13 2008 at 09:17AM

A 66-year-old man was arrested after allegedly shooting and killing two people on his property in Walmer, Port Elizabeth police said on Friday.

Police spokesperson Sandra Janse van Rensburg said the incident happened on Thursday morning just before 7am, when two people were apparently trying to steal copper pipes at the man's house in Smallman Street in Walmer.

The elderly man shot and killed the intruders with a shotgun.

After a thorough investigation, police arrested him on Thursday afternoon on two charges of murder.

He was expected to appear in the New Law court in Port Elizabeth on Friday. - Sapa

Killer 'took out victim's eyes'
22/06/2008 08:11 - (SA)
A 20-year-old man is expected to appear in the Flagstaff Magistrate's Court on Monday for allegedly raping, mutilating and killing a woman, Eastern Cape police said on Saturday.
Captain Mduduzi Godlwana said the man was arrested at his home in Mthwaku Village, in Port St Johns on Friday.
The 30-year-old woman was walking home from work on Tuesday when she was attacked in the Msigaba forest, in Port St Johns.

"The woman did not return home from work on Tuesday. Her family searched for her and her body was found in the forest. A sharp object had been used to take out both her eyes. A wire was tied around her neck. The umbrella she had been carrying was shoved into her private parts," said Godlwana.

She was also allegedly raped and had several stab wounds to her body.
The man was arrested at his home, said Godlwana.

Youth raped boss, throttled her
25/06/2008 21:29 - (SA)
Pietermaritzburg - An 18-year-old youth who pleaded guilty to raping his 48-year-old employer, and who was also convicted of causing her death, was jailed for 27 years by the High Court here on Wednesday.

Sanele Mtolo, of Himeville, told the court that he squeezed his victim's throat, but did not strangle her. He pleaded not guilty to her murder and was convicted of culpable homicide.
Judge Jan Hugo said that very little distinguished the culpable homicide from murder.
It was found that Mtolo had been drinking, was sexually aroused, was a first offender, was young and pleaded guilty to her rape.
His semen was found on the woman's leg and there would have been some difficulty in proving he had raped her had he not pleaded guilty to it.
Taken together, these amounted to substantial and compelling circumstances, freeing the court from having to impose the prescribed life sentence.
Mtolo was jailed for 10 years for the culpable homicide, 15 years' for the rape and two years' for stealing her cellphone.
The victim had employed Mtolo as a labourer and he attacked and raped her when she was alone on the night of July 12 last year.