Double murder in Tonga
Tonga police officer are investigating two cases of murder and one of rape after the death of three people on Monday.
BLOCK B – Tonga police officer are investigating two cases of murder and one of rape after the death of three people on Monday.
The first incident occurred when two armed robbers entered the house of a local tavern owner, and shot and killed him and his partner while they were asleep early on Monday at about 03:00. Mr Andries Sithole and Ms Dalita Mula were killed.
According to the spokesman for the Tonga Police Station, Lt Ntombifuthi Mashiane, the two assailants shot and killed the couple, demanded the deceased male’s niece to hand them the keys to the tavern, and then they raped her.
The third death only came a few hours after the first murders, when angry community members served their own justice to one of the alleged perpetrators.
At around 13:45 on Monday, community members spotted the the suspect and manhandled him until he died.
According to Mashiane, by the time police arrived on the scene the people had already beaten the man to death – an act which he regarded as a setback in the investigation of the couple’s case.
“We have lost our lead, right now we might never know if it had been him, and if so, with whom he was working,” explained Mashiane.
He said they recovered items such as cellphones and coins in the deceased suspect’s possession, which linked him to the couple’s murder.
Police are investigating a case of vigilantism and murder, and they are hopeful to make arrests soon.
Mashiane appealed to the people to refrain from beating suspects when they apprehended them, as this hampered the cases in court.
“As the SAPS we would like to appeal to communities to hand the suspects over to us, because if criminals are manhandled by the people or police officers, suspects present this in court and and stand a greater chance of getting out of jail. We understand their frustration, but we ask them to allow the police to do their jobs,” Mashiane requested.
