Nolwazi Dhlamini
A security guard appeared in court on Monday in connection with the brutal murder of his 29-year-old girlfriend.
Sebeshi Zacharia Mojela (28) is accused of stabbing to death Priska Schalk (29) on Monday night last week.
The case has been remanded until March 14 for a formal bail application.
Schalk was found handcuffed in a pool of blood on her bed in her Commissioner Street home, still with two knives lodged in her chest. More knives were found at the crime scene.
“It is believed the victim and her boyfriend were involved in an argument prior to the incident,” Kempton SAPS spokesperson, Capt Jethro Mtshali, confirmed.
After her body was discovered, police launched a manhunt for the accused, who had fled to Limpopo, where he is originally from.
He was finally arrested on Friday evening after Kempton detectives followed up on information received regarding his whereabouts, and left for Limpopo the same morning of the arrest.
“Together with Limpopo police, they managed to trace the suspect and arrested him at a shopping complex in Mokopane,” Mtshali confirmed.
Both the police and the owner of the security company confirmed that on the day of the murder Mojela left work before his night shift was over.
He had been working as a security guard for this company since December 2014 and was deployed at a local school at the time of the incident.
“Our reaction officers usually conduct random site visits to where our security guards are stationed and when they arrived there that night, he was nowhere to be found. We phoned both his personal cell and his work cell but we couldn’t get through,” the owner of the company told Tembisan.
He added he was shocked to get the news about his employee, because all the time he had worked at the company, he was always “respectful and reliable”.
“He was a good worker who seemed to get along with everybody. So this really came as a shock. And this is the first time we have had such a case in the over 20 years we’ve been operating.”
He confirmed a thorough security check was done of all employees before they were hired. Mojela came out clean, with no criminal record or previous offences.
“The station commander of Kempton Park Police Station, Brig Bertha Kgoroba, praised the team of detectives who dedicated themselves to finding the suspect following this brutal murder,” Mtshali commented.
