Family of murder victim want her alleged killer released

The family of woman who was killed and her body set alight allegedly by her lover want him to be released from custody.

Itumeleng Elizabeth Molefe's aunt‚ Letta Mokgaga‚ said the family didn't want James Thabo Dube‚ 37‚ kept in custody.

“We don't want him in jail. He must come outside and raise my niece's children. He must be free and walk the streets of Stinkwater as he did. He has not told us why he killed her.

“What is sad is that when we were searching for her‚ he was assisting while he knew that he had killed her. We want him to come and finish what he started. We are hurting as a family and the community is supporting us. The entire village of Stinkwater want him to come to his home‚” said Mokgaga.

Dube‚ clad in a red T-shirt‚ navy blue pants and black sneakers appeared briefly in the Moretele Magistrate's Court in Hammanskraal outside Tshwane on Monday.

Police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubele said that Dube had made a confession before a magistrate earlier on Monday.

Dube was arrested on Thursday last week after he handed himself over to the police in Temba‚ Hammanskraal‚ outside Tshwane for allegedly killing Molefe‚ his live-in-lover.

Molefe disappeared on October 6 last year from Dube's house in Stinkwater‚ Hammanskraal‚ and was reported missing on October 26 by Dube.

He is expected back in court on January 30.

- TMG Digital/Sowetan