Student arrested over campus killings

24 July 2014 - 02:14 By Kingdom Mabuza
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A 24-Year-old BSc student at the University of Venda, in Limpopo, has been arrested in connection with a series of killings and rapes on or near the campus.

Members of a police team assembled on Monday pounced the next day and arrested the suspected serial killer at his home in Thohoyandou.

Students were yesterday shocked at the news that one of their own had been linked to the killings.

The president of the university's student representative council, Fukie Uhuru Mofokeng, said he hoped justice would be served.

"Students are still shocked that a person they knew is behind these atrocious deeds. We thought it was an outsider," said Mofokeng.

Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Fannie Masemola said the police found in the suspect's possession the university student ID and cellphone of a student who is fighting for her life in hospital.

The student was stabbed in the stomach and left for dead on campus in May.

"Also found in his possession was a cellphone belonging to the late Brenda Ndove, and a hairpin belonging to another murdered woman, Livhuwani Mbodi," Masemola said.

The suspect has also been linked to the killing at the university on Friday of a 45-year-old cleaner.

"The body of Brenda Ndove, an employee at the university, was found next to the old clinic with a deep wound in the back of her head.

"This gruesome discovery was made while the students were still reeling from shock after the body of Livhuwani Mbodi, a 22-year-old student, was found [on university] premises in March."

Masemola said the alleged serial killer appeared to have raped his victims before murdering them.

His attacks were not limited to female university students but extended to women in villages near the campus.

"Life around the university and the adjacent villages became a nightmare when another female was found murdered in April," said Masemola. "This time the body of nine-year-old Tshililo Ndou, a pupil of Tshishonga Primary School, was found in a yard at Golgotha village, within walking distance of the university.

"Investigations revealed that the little girl was raped before being strangled."

The killer struck again in Golgotha.

"As if Golgotha had not experienced enough murders, another gruesome discovery was made at the same village towards the end of last month,'' said Masemola.

"The body of Zwivhuya Alice Mashau, an eight-year-old pupil of Nazarene Primary School, which is a stone's throw away from the university, was found between two heaps of sand.''

She had also been raped and strangled.

The suspect will appear in the Thohoyandou Magistrate's Court today to answer to charges of murder, rape, robbery and attempted murder.

Provincial department of safety, security and liaison spokesman Jimmy Machaka urged students to remain calm and allow the law to take its course.

He said the department would work with police and the university to improve security.

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