Africa-Press – South-Africa. A man was arrested after two Grade 12 pupils were brutally hacked to death at the weekend.
Police said the two schoolgirls were allegedly attacked with an axe while in their student accommodation in Ngwangwane village, in the Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma local municipality in southern KwaZulu-Natal.
It is alleged that a man in his 20s came into the student accommodation at Ngwangwane location in Creighton. He hacked the girls to death and dismembered their bodies.
One of the bodies was left in the house, while the other was found five kilometres away, dumped at the Mzihlanga area in Riverside.
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Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said charges of murder and escaping from lawful custody were being investigated by Creighton SAPS.
“On Sunday, 31 July 2022, a team of various police officers traced and arrested a 21-year-old suspect. Yesterday, the suspect escaped from police custody when he was booked out, to point [out] where he dumped the second victim’s body.”
Police said that, during the process, he jumped into the river and swam across in an attempt to evade arrest.
Police called for back-up, and the man was caught hiding at a local St Johns Apostolic Faith Mission church house.
“The suspect appeared before Hlanganani Magistrate’s Court today. He was remanded in custody until 11 August 2022 for a formal bail application,” Gwala said.
KwaZulu-Natal’s Social Development MEC, Nonhlanhla Khoza, said she found the whole thing “totally abhorrent and sickening”.
She said:
The MEC continued: “It is very painful that we start Women’s Month with such a horrific incident. We find solace in the fact that law enforcement agencies quickly arrested the suspect, even though he tried to evade justice,” she said.
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The ward councillor, Mthobisi Dlamini, said residents were still reeling from shock.
“We are so shocked by this and the community wanted to take the law into their own hands, but we managed to calm them. We are pleased that the father of the suspect had played a role in ensuring that his son got arrested,” he said.
Dlamini said that, in his ward, there were a lot of pupils from neighbouring municipalities who rented houses in order to be close to schools.
“We have never experienced such a horrific incident. We never slept since this incident happened because we were worried that the criminals would strike again,” he said.
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