Pretoria - Three suspects appeared in court in connection with last week’s murder of Pretoria east doctor Dr Erna Britz Van Zyl. She was bound and suffocated along with her 75-year-old husband during a house robbery at their Erasmuskloof home.
The couple was discovered by their son, who got worried when he could not get hold of either of his parents. He eventually went to their home to check on them, only to make the gruesome discovery.
Police spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo said the investigating officer appointed to the case made a breakthrough last Wednesday after a transaction was made at Big Tree Mall in Moloto with a credit card that was stolen during the house robbery.
“The investigating officer also discovered that the suspects used the victims’ vehicle at the mall, which they stole during the house robbery.”
Masondo said investigations led to the arrest of the first suspect and the recovery of the stolen vehicle on Thursday, February 4. The second suspect handed himself over to the police at Kwamhlanga SAPS on Friday, and the third suspect was arrested on Saturday.
The trio, aged 21, 22 and 30, appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges of murder, attempted murder, house robbery and theft of a motor vehicle. The case was postponed to February 15.
Masondo said the SAPS management commended the investigating officer for the relentless way he followed up on information and working around the clock which led to the arrests of the suspects.
Pretoria News