Pretoria - A 36-year-old man was on Friday expected to appear before the Witbank Magistrate's Court after handing himself in at the Mondeor police station in Gauteng for the murder of an old woman in Witbank.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi said the man was believed to be behind the murder of an 86-year-old woman at an old age home earlier this week.
“The suspect is alleged to have been involved in the murder case where an 86-year-old elderly woman was robbed of her belongings and brutally killed from an old age home at Witbank on Sunday. The man was arrested after he handed himself over to the authorities at Mondeor police station in Gauteng (on Wednesday),” said Hlathi.
“This was after a manhunt was launched by police following an incident in which the elderly woman was murdered. The investigation revealed that her vehicle, a white Honda Jazz, and her belongings were stolen during the incident and fortunately the vehicle became a positive catalyst for the investigation as it was later recovered left abandoned in Krugersdorp on Monday.”
Hlathi said after police officers found the woman’s car, they strongly suspected that the murderer could also be somewhere in Gauteng.
“This prompted them to intensify their search and whilst busy following positive leads on his whereabouts, their counterparts from Mondeor station informed them that the suspect that they were looking for has handed himself over, hence his appearance.”
Earlier this week, Hlathi had stated that the woman had seemingly been held hostage before she was murdered.
“The victim seemed to have been held hostage and was then stabbed by her assailant(s) before (they fled) the scene with the stolen items,” Hlathi said at the time.
IOL