Here is the man accused of burning down the Dullstroom detecive’s office
Police made a major breakthrough in the investigation of arson after the Dullstroom detective unit was destroyed in a fire.
Provincial police spokesperson, brig. Leonard Hlathi, said that a 30 year-old suspect was arrested on Friday.
Bhekumuzi Thomas Masina, from Sakhele Township near Dullstroom, was arrested after an intense investigation into the cause and possible motives for the arson on 11 May.
Masina was found guilty of robbing someone of their cellphone and cash at knife point last year. The incident took place in the township he resides in, in December.
Brig. Hlathi says that Masina was supposed to have been sentenced for robbery on the day that he allegedly started the fire. He allegedly broke into the office searching for an incriminating docket.
The suspect is also accused of stealing two laptops before starting a fire in the office.
Police notified the Fire Department after they noticed smoke coming from the office. By the time the Fire Department, situated in Belfast, arrived on the scene, it was too late to salvage anything.
The docket Masina allegedly attempted to destroy, was not in the office that burnt down.
Other important dockets, like the one for the murder and attack on Sue Howarth and her husband Robert Lynn, was sadly destroyed.
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Masina appeared in the Belfast Magistrate Court on Monday.
