Zelda van Niekerk. Picture: Facebook
A man has been arrested in connection with the murder and robbery of a woman after she had to stop because of a flat tyre on the N1 under the N7 bridge in Cape Town on Friday, Western Cape police said.
The victim is understood to be 45-year-old Zelda van Niekerk, who was riding a motorcycle and is being mourned by her family and the group Lady Bikers SA.
“She had stopped with a flat tyre and was robbed and shot in the stomach. She later died in hospital,” police said in a statement on Saturday.
On Friday night, at about 7.50pm, members of the metro police K9 unit, the gang and drug task team, and law enforcement stabilisation unit received a tip-off from the public of a firearm kept in a house in Kensington in Cape Town.
“The officers searched the house and a male occupant. They found a fully loaded .38 chrome special revolver on top of a wardrobe, 10 live rounds of ammunition, as well as different bank cards and a drivers licence in a dustbin.
“It was later found that the cards belonged to the woman who was robbed on the N1 under the N7 bridge earlier that day. She had stopped with a flat tyre and had been robbed and shot in the stomach. She later died in hospital.”
The 33-year-old suspect was charged with possession of an illegal firearm, suspected stolen property, illegal possession of ammunition, and was also suspected of murder pending the outcome of a ballistics test of the firearm which would be conducted by the South African Police Service (SAPS). He was detained at Maitland SAPS, the statement said.
– African News Agency (ANA)
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
