Four suspects face multiple murder charges in Jeppe
JEPPE – One of the suspects was already in police custody facing a similar charge
Four alleged murder suspects were arrested in the early hours of 14 December and one is still sought by the Jeppe police.
The three suspects, two men and a woman, were arrested during a raid in Jeppestown, according to the spokesperson for Jeppe Police Station, Captain Richard Munyayi.
The suspects are accused of the murder of a man who was shot and killed on the corner Gus and Jules streets in Jeppestown on 9 August.
Read: Jeppe police arrest two Bertrams men for rape
Munyayi said the victim was first assaulted by the three men and two women before he was killed.
“On 9 August, police attended to a scene and found Mthobisi Shabalala profusely bleeding from his badly injured body and face,” said Munyayi.
“Paramedics were called to the scene and Shabalala was later certified dead. One empty cartridge was also recovered on the scene.”
Investigations led the police to Jeppestown on 14 December where two women, aged 18 and 31 years, as well as a 31-year-old man, were arrested.
“While the suspects were being questioned at the police station, it was discovered that the fourth suspect is already in police custody – arrested for possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition in a separate incident.
“The suspect was arrested on 13 August during a routine stop and search by the police at Auriet and Park streets.”
Munyayi said on the day of his arrest, the police attended a scene where a man was fatally shot on the 3rd-floor flat of a building also on Auriet and Park streets.
“The victim was identified as Dr Thulani Sithole.
“The door had two bullet holes and there were 19 empty cartridges and one live round on the scene. Hence we suspect that is the reason he was found in possession of a firearm with only one bullet in the gun’s magazine.”
The firearm recovered from the suspect was taken for ballistic tests to ascertain if it is linked to all these murder cases, he said.
Police are searching for one of the suspects and Munyayi said the four other suspects still remain in police custody for further investigation.
Details: Jeppe police Station 011 624 6042.
