Tzaneen man accused of murdering his half-sister arrested

A 34-year-old man who said he witnessed his eight-year-old sister being abducted by someone travelling in a Toyota Quantum has been arrested for her murder, Limpopo police said on Thursday.

The man from Xipungu village near Tzaneen was tracked down to the house of a traditional healer on Thursday morning.

Police received a tip-off that he had fled his home village and headed to the healer in Acornhoek, Mpumalanga, said Brig Motlafela Mojapelo.

“Further investigations led the police tracking team to an area next to the local crèche at Xipungu village in Letsitele policing area outside Tzaneen where the body was found in the bushes,” said Mojapelo.

“The probe conducted at the scene suggested that the child might have been raped before she was murdered. This will be determined by forensic investigations that are unfolding,” he added.

Mabareki California Molamudi had been missing since Monday. The grade 1 pupil had been left with her caregiver, who is also a relative, when she disappeared.

“The caregiver allegedly went to fetch water to bath her, but when she returned, the child was nowhere to be found,” said Mojapelo. “Preliminary investigations revealed that the child was last seen in the company of the suspect, walking to the nearby shop. He later reportedly told some community members that the child was kidnapped by unknown men travelling in a Toyota Quantum,” said Mojapelo.

While the search for the little girl ensued, the man disappeared and both his cellphones were switched off.

Police launched a manhunt for him.

He faces charges of kidnapping and murder, while a rape charge could be added later. He will appear in the Ritavi magistrate’s court on Friday.

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