Cops called after Midrand man tries to use taxi app to transport dead woman

Efforts by a man who used an app to try to hail taxis to ferry a body from his townhouse in an attempt to dispose of it backfired when the drivers tipped off police in Gauteng.

Napo Motebang, 27, appeared in the Alexandra Magistrate's Court on Thursday facing a charge of murder after the death of a woman at his apartment in Midrand earlier in May.

Midrand police spokesperson Capt Mmakgomo Ronny Semono said that Motebang had initially summoned a driver from a popular e-hailing service but the driver had refused to take him and his "companion".

A second driver, on noticing that he was carrying an apparently lifeless body, refused to ferry him and alerted police.

"When the two drivers refused, he put the body in a garbage bin and wheeled it out of the complex. He [allegedly] dumped the body in bushes near the Midrand police station," said Semono.

The victim, believed to be a Lesotho national, was known to Motebang's sister.

A second person with knowledge of the matter confirmed that on the night of the incident, Motebang requested a taxi using an application on his phone.

"He first carried her body. The taxi driver refused to take him after noticing that he was carrying a lifeless body. He then requested a second taxi, but the first driver told the second one about what he had seen and both went to the police station," the person said. 

Motebang then returned to his townhouse where he allegedly placed the body in a garbage bin.

"After the second attempt to call a taxi, Matebang put the body in a garbage bin. A security guard saw him carrying the bin and this raised his suspicions," said a second person with knowledge of the case.

Police searched the townhouse and found the body in the bin along with pillows that allegedly matched the bedding used by Motebang.

The case was postponed to June 13 for a formal bail application. Motebang remains behind bars.