Taxi driver arrested for Joburg pupil's murder

On the day a teenage girl was found in Johannesburg, shot dead in a pool of blood, a boy playing in a park picked up a handbag. 

He took it home. Inside his mother found an identity document belonging to her 18-year-old-daughter, who had left home the previous day to visit a relative.

This was the sequence of events that played out near Jukskei Park last Sunday that led to the arrest of a 25-year-old taxi driver for murder. He appeared in the Alexandra magistrate's court on Thursday. 

“Police from Alexandra Saps on Sunday afternoon were driving along East Bank avenue near Jukskei Park when they were summoned and directed by community members to the body of an unknown female victim lying in a pool of blood,” said police spokesperson Brig Mathapelo Peters.

They discovered she had been shot in the upper body.

“Meanwhile, on the same day, a boy who was playing in the park picked up a handbag which belongs to his sister. He took the bag home and his mother found in it an identity document of her 18-year old daughter who had left home the previous day to visit a relative,” said Peters.

The boy’s mother went to the police station to inform them about the discovery of the handbag.

“The unknown deceased young woman, whose body was found earlier, was identified by the mother as her 18-year old daughter, a learner at East Bank High School,” said Peters.

The taxi driver's case was postponed for a week for further investigation.

Gauteng police commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela commended his members for building a solid case against the suspect.

"The Saps will continue to affirm our position against gender-based violence by prioritising the investigation of violent crimes committed against women, children and vulnerable persons," he said.

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