Johannesburg - The man accused of murdering a pregnant Soweto mother-of-two Charlotte Ramohai in front of the children might also be responsible for another fatal hijacking in which a child witnessed his father’s death.
Mlungisi Wayne Twala was arrested this week for allegedly gunning down Ramohai in front of her children, aged 7 and 12, in a hijacking outside her daughter’s school in Bramfischerville last month.
Detectives said the two hijackers accosted Ramohai before killing her and speeding off in her car.
It was later found abandoned in Dobsonville, where Twala was arrested.
When he appeared in the Protea Magistrate’s Court on Thursday on robbery and murder charges, it was revealed that he had appeared in the same court earlier this week in connection with a similar attack.
Twala and his co-accused allegedly hijacked a father and child in Soweto last month and forced the man into the boot of his car.
The man died in the boot and the attackers allegedly abandoned the car, with the child inside.
It is unclear if the victim died from his injuries or suffocated.
Prosecutors were still waiting for the outcome of forensic tests and the post-mortem report.
In a third case, Twala was acquitted on a charge of car theft in the same court also earlier this year.
When he appeared briefly in the dock for the murder of Ramohai, the magistrate warned him that he faced two life sentences for the two separate murder charges, plus another 15 years each if found guilty of the two robberies.
The court also informed Twala that there were two separate murder incidents for which he would be tried and that he therefore could not apply to the court to be released on bail.
The case is expected to be transferred to the High Court in Joburg.
Twala will be kept at the Dobsonville police station cells so that an identity parade for State witnesses can be scheduled for the coming week.