Murder suspect’s wife flees as angry mob attacks house
Fuming residents in Tswelapele burnt down a house belonging to a 40-year-old suspect who allegedly raped and killed a woman in the early hours of Monday morning.
The house was burnt down after the suspect was arrested and removed by the SAPS. It is believed the suspect’s wife ran away when residents broke into the house, searching for the suspect.
According to one of the residents, the group collected money with the purpose of buying two litres of petrol to burn down the house.
“We are tired of this man. He has been raping since 1999 and nothing happens. Our anger was fueled by the fact that he goes around bragging about the crimes he has committed. This man deserves to be locked in jail. He has raped many innocent women in the area,” said a resident, who wished to remain anonymous.
She added that the residents are unhappy about what happened to the victim.
“She might have been drunk, and walking home, but that does not give the suspect the right to rape and kill her. The suspect was only rescued by the police’s arrival, otherwise he too would have died. I think we wasted time, as some residents wanted to torture the suspect first, while he was naked. They wanted to make the suspect the laughing stock of our people,” she added.
Ms Ntsae Mokomane (48) was raped and killed in the early hours of Monday morning. She was found in an old car. Paramedics tried to save her, but she died at the scene.
“We are going to remove the old, scrap cars from the area. We are removing them with or without the owner’s knowledge. We do not need these kinds of scenes in our area. It is time residents stand together to fight these criminals who destroy the lives of innocent people,” said the resident.
The suspect’s house had three rooms being rented to tenants. It is believed the tenants were given time to remove their possessions before the house was burnt down.
One of the tenants did however, claim that his cellular phone was still inside when the house was torched.
When speaking to the Ekurhuleni Emergency Services media officer, Mr William Ntladi, is is unknown who exactly burnt down the house.
“Some residents assaulted the owner of the house, claiming he was responsible for the killing of the victim. Firefighters were prevented from extinguishing the blaze by angry residents. We then called the EMPD and SAPS for back up. An inquest docket was opened with the police,” he added.
Officers from the Sebenza SAPS and EMPD controlled the situation and stopped the angry residents from doing any further damage.
