Police were working on strong information to arrest the 51-year-old Modimolle man wanted for the attack on his estranged wife and murder of her son, Limpopo police said on Sunday.
“There is strong information that we are following up. We have received a lot of tip-offs from members of the public in a very short space of time,” Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said
“There are people that police will be visiting and they will, through interviews, share information with us of his whereabouts. We know he is somewhere in the country, and his days are numbered,” he added.
The man, whose identity document indicates that he was born in Namibia, allegedly forced three men, believed to be his workers, at gunpoint to gang-rape his estranged wife and mutilate her in his home in Modimolle on Tuesday.
He then lured his 19-year-old stepson to his house and shot him dead when he arrived.
Mulaudzi said police were concerned, however, about information from the case leaking to the media. Beeld newspaper reported on Saturday that the man was in Vryheid in the Northern Cape.
This followed a report on Wednesday that the man had been arrested in Kimberley. This police dismissed.
“We do appreciate the media's involvement in this case but if details are revealed, such as the names of towns, it poses a problem to the investigation.
“While we are following up the information, the man might be in that town and as a result of media reports, is fed information,” said Mulaudzi.
He said police had reason to believe the man was in Vryheid at the time of the report and a person linked to law officials was feeding him information.
“It makes a serious dent into the police investigation, since we want closure to the case as soon as possible.”
Mulaudzi said the emotions of the family concerned were not being taken into consideration. They were being given the impression police weren't doing their job which was not the case.
He said police were running a parallel internal investigation to find the source of the leaks. - Sapa