SHAIN GERMANER
THE GAUTENG provincial police have been caught in a series of contradictions regarding their investigations into the deaths of eight gay men across Gauteng.
A suspected serial killer has been identified, and a task team announced to the media to investigate at least four of the cases does not exist.
The contradictions emerged in a written response from the office of Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa after families and friends of the victims requested the DA to query in the national assembly the seemingly stalled investigations.
In March this year, The Star reported on the murders. The victims had all been stabbed, suffocated or both.
All eight were gay men, who had been bound and murdered in their homes around Gauteng with no apparent robbery motive.
Last year, Gauteng police told the media they were certain there was no connection between any of the eight murders, but the police ministry’s response indicates a common suspect in four of the cases.
“The main suspect is only known as Tony Boy. He is still outstanding,” the response reads.
In March, provincial police also announced that a task team of detectives would investigate four of the cases, but in the ministry’s response, five words stand out: “There is no task team.”
Only a single police captain, Happy Vilankulu, is currently investigating the cases, and while one man was arrested for housebreaking in one of the cases, no further arrests have taken place.
But the report also indicates that Vilankulu’s investigations had come to a halt due to numerous incomplete forensic tests and requests for cellphone records.
Toxicology tests in six of the eight cases are still outstanding, almost two years after some of the crimes were committed.
The report also states that there is no common modus operandi between any of the cases, despite strangulation and stabbing being listed as the cause of death for most of the victims.
The DA’s transport spokesman, Ian Ollis, who submitted the questions to the National Assembly last month, said he was concerned over the lack of investigation and the contradictions in the report.
He said the police should put a task team into this series of cases to prevent further deaths. He also said he would make further queries in Parliament.
The eight murders began with the killing of Manolis Veloudos in April 2010. This was followed last year by the deaths of Jim Cathels, Oscar O’Hara, 33, Siphiwe Selby Nhlapo, 36, a 47-year-old unnamed landlord and Barney van Heerden, 39, in September.
HIV activist Jason Wessenaar was murdered in his home last December and theatre manager Rulov Senekal was found dead on February 25 this year.
When The Star originally reported on the first four deaths, police said there was no reason to believe there were any links between the crimes, and added individual officers would be enough to solve each case.