Cape Town - Sinaye Mposelwa, 25, appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Monday for the robbery and murder of Ivan Ivanov, a Ukrainian tourist who was stabbed to death while hiking Chapman’s Peak on Saturday.
Mposelwa will remain in custody until August 21, when he will appear in court for bail.
But Hout Bay Community Crime Prevention (CCP) is working to make sure he is not released.
The CCP and other community
forces played a major role in taking Ivanov’s suspect to the police and ensuring that his family stayed informed.
Gleb Ivanov, the victim’s son, said that it was members of Hout Bay’s Community Police Forum and Table Mountain Watch who actually confirmed his father’s death for him.
Hout Bay’s CCP team was also responsible for apprehending the suspect, who allegedly had in his possession Ivan’s backpack.
Now the CCP has created a petition asking the court to oppose bail for the suspected murderer.
The petition reads: “We are appealing to the greater Hout Bay community to stand together to ensure that an end is put to the attacks on residents and visitors alike.
“Hout Bay should be a safe place for all!”
During a service to honour Ivan at Chapman’s Peak on Sunday, first responders and Hout Bay community members voiced their frustrations with the level of violent crime in their community.
They cited an under-resourced national police service as the reason community members like the CCP and other private security firms are taking matters into their own hands.
Now they want to make sure that suspected criminals are not free to roam the streets of Hout Bay.
Ivan’s sister-in-law, Dina, sent a personal WhatsApp message to Hout Bay residents to thank the community and tell them a little bit more about who he was as a person.
“I would like to say thank you to the community for helping to find the criminals who took his life so tragically,” she wrote.
Dina and Gleb spoke highly of Ivan.
They told people at the service
that he spoke four languages, had three university degrees and loved to read.
Ivan loved Cape Town’s nature and hoped to one day bring his family to see it for themselves, they said.
To sign the petition to oppose bail for Ivan’s suspected killer, go to Change.org and search “oppose bail for Ivan Ivanov’s accused murderer”.