Cops, Hawks hunt ex-spy chief’s killer

Patrick Karegeya, Rwanda's former intelligence chief was found dead and believed strangled in a Sandton hotel. File photo: AP Photo

Patrick Karegeya, Rwanda's former intelligence chief was found dead and believed strangled in a Sandton hotel. File photo: AP Photo

Published Jan 3, 2014

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Johannesburg - The hunt for the killer of former Rwandan spy chief Patrick Karegeya continued on Friday, Gauteng police and the Hawks said.

“We are exploring all avenues,” Hawks spokesman Captain Paul Ramaloko said.

Karegeya's body was found in a hotel room in Maude Street, Sandton, on Wednesday around 5.30pm.

Lt-Col Katlego Mogale said she could not immediately comment on developments in the investigation.

She would neither confirm nor deny reports that security camera footage from the hotel formed part of the investigation.

“It is police procedure, where a crime was committed and CCTV footage of the scene exists, (for it) to be viewed by investigators.”

Mogale said on Thursday that when Karegeya's body was found, his neck was swollen.

A bloodied towel and rope were found in the hotel room safe.

“There is a possibility that he might have been strangled,” she said.

Karegeya, 53, booked into the hotel on Sunday. He was the former head of Rwanda's external intelligence service and had been living in exile in South Africa for a number of years.

On Friday The New Age reported that a man identified as “Apollo Kiririsi” was allegedly being sought in connection with the murder.

Karegeya's nephew David Batenga reportedly told the newspaper that he and his uncle had picked Kiririsi up from a Gautrain station and taken him to the Michelangelo Towers Hotel.

Batenga left the men after a few hours, and tried to call Karegeya on his cellphone on Tuesday evening but received no response. The police were alerted when Karegeya's phone was still switched off the following morning, the newspaper reported. - Sapa

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