Top cop who caught Ladysmith serial killer dies of lung cancer
Two of the murder victims - a woman from Ladysmith and 11-year-old Tina Bernardes of Johannesburg - suffered fractured skulls by being hit with stones
Former top cop Piet Byleveld, who brought notorious South African serial killers to book, has sadly passed away. One of the serial killers he nabbed killed a woman at the Hands monuments in Ladysmith.
Byleveld died of lung cancer in Johannesburg.
He retired from the SAPS in 2010 after serving 38 years in the police service.
Byleveld was responsible for the successful conviction of mine dump serial child killer Sipho Dube Mhlangathi, who was convicted in 2006. One of Mhlangathi’s victims was a Ladysmith woman, whose body was found in Ladysmith at the Hands monuments.
The Johannesburg High Court found Mhlangathi guilty of murdering six children and a woman, raping three girls and indecently assaulting boys.
The judge said that two of the murder victims – a woman from Ladysmith and 11-year-old Tina Bernardes of Johannesburg – had suffered fractured skulls by being hit on the head with stones.
Judge Seun Moshidi also convicted Mhlangathi of 10 kidnappings, one theft, one robbery, one common assault and one assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He received 10 life sentences and 114 years in jail.
Piet Byleveld was regarded as one of the best serial killer catchers in the world.
He will be missed by family, friends and colleagues, as well as the public at large who found it comforting to know that a man of his calibre was out in the field and putting the “monsters” of society behind bars.
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