Cape Town – The Heidelberg police officer who allegedly confessed to murdering a 32-year-old woman identified as Candice Alberts will face the “full brunt of the law", police say.
Alberts was reported missing on Thursday at the Heidelberg police station by her mother after she failed to arrive home from work.
The murder has shocked residents of Slangrivier in Heidelberg, where the incident took place.
On Saturday morning a search by the community and police for the missing woman was intensified before the 31-year-old police officer allegedly confessed.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) has taken over the investigation.
Police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie said the officer, whose name was withheld, will appear in the Helderberg Magistrate’s Court on Monday on a count of murder.
Pojie on Sunday said police found Alberts's body with multiple stab wounds. They suspected that she might have also been strangled.
“The suspect had also indicated that the last time he saw her was when he dropped her at her working place. However she disappeared and a search party was established at the Heidelberg police station."
"In fact the day that he confessed, the community had mobilised and organised two buses full of people to go and search for this lady."
“On Saturday morning, the suspect confessed to a colleague that the lady we were looking for actually was dead, and that he had murdered her. We found the body after he made point-outs. The body had multiple stab wounds. It might be that she was also strangled, but an autopsy will be conducted to determine this,” said Pojie.
He said the constable had been detained at the station’s holding cells.
“We are not afraid to tell people that even if we have to act against our own to strengthen our relationship with the community, we will do that. This is why he has been treated just like any other suspect; he has been apprehended and he will have to face the full brunt of the law,” said Pojie.
Helderberg Community Policing Forum chairperson Leon Page said residents would demonstrate outside the court on Monday.