Pretoria - Police say a suspect in the Soweto incident where a 61-year-old woman was raped and beaten to death by assailants who also raped her 21-year-old granddaughter, has been killed in a robbery.
Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said they had been pursuing one of the suspects in the case whom they arrested on Wednesday evening in Mpumalanga.
Peters said they later determined that the other wanted suspect for the incident had been shot and killed in another robbery incident in Roodepoort.
“Further investigations have since linked a third suspect who is one of two men that were allegedly assaulted by community members over the weekend. This third suspect has now been arrested and is in police custody," she added.
Peters said the suspects aged 50 and 43 would appear in court in due course.
Gauteng provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Elias Mawela has welcomed the arrest of the suspects and commended the SAPS investigating team which “remained committed to prioritising the investigation of crimes against women, children and vulnerable persons”.
On Friday, Gauteng police said they were urgently mobilising “maximum resources” towards finding the suspects behind the attack on the pensioner and her granddaughter during a house robbery in Dobsonville, Soweto.
Preliminary findings at the time showed that in the early hours of Friday, the assailants gained access into the house after breaking the burglar bar and entering through a sliding door.
The grandmother, who was severely injured during the attack, was rushed to the nearby Tshepo-Themba clinic in Soweto, where she was declared dead on arrival.
A team of investigators led by detectives from the specialised Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit were immediately assigned to work around the clock “and make use of every available resource to ensure that the suspects are found and brought to book”.
- African News Agency