Slain 'Hammanskraal rapist': 4 suspects set free

16/08/2016. A body of a man who allegedly kidnaped and raped a 47-year-old woman in Hammanskraal is seen taken by pathologists from the scene where he died after he was attacked at the near by township. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

16/08/2016. A body of a man who allegedly kidnaped and raped a 47-year-old woman in Hammanskraal is seen taken by pathologists from the scene where he died after he was attacked at the near by township. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

Published Aug 19, 2016

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Pretoria - The four men arrested after the killing of a man suspected of being behind the kidnapping and rape of a 47-year-old woman in Hammanskraal have had their charges provisionally withdrawn due to insufficient evidence linking them to the murder.

A son of the raped woman was among the men arrested following the killing of the alleged rapist.

The men were released from custody before appearing at Moretele Magistrate’s Court in Temba on Thursday.

“I am relieved because I told police that we rescued the deceased from an angry mob that attacked him. We told them that we wanted to take him to the police station because we knew what he looked like and that we had no part in him being assaulted,” said the woman’s son.

The son had previously told the Pretoria News that he traced the suspected abductor via a cellphone number he used during negotiations with the man for the release of his kidnapped mother. At the time, the suspect had apparently called the son and demanded a ransom from him.

“My lawyer said there was no case against us because there was a lack of evidence and no witnesses,” he said.

Pretoria News

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