Detectives at KwaMhlanga in Mpumalanga have worked around the clock, pursued and arrested a 40-year-old man in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, for the brutal murder of his partner.
The Mpumalanga man was tracked by the relentless detectives who arrested him after the murder of a 31-year-old woman at Vezubuhle, KwaMhlanga.
“Police were summoned to the house on Sunday morning, October 13, 2024, at about 10am after family members of the deceased suspected that their loved one might have been kept captive or murdered,” said Mpumalanga provincial police spokesperson, Captain Magonseni Nkosi.
Information at police disposal shows that the deceased woman went missing a week earlier. Her family members conducted their own investigations regarding her whereabouts, with no luck.
Nkosi said the woman’s relatives then decided to report the matter to the police.
Searching for the missing woman, police officers managed to open the the room where the missing woman’s partner lived.
Nkosi said the probing police officers realised that the floor of the room had been recently refurbished, and that raised their suspicions.
“Investigation was conducted, and as a result, it was discovered that the missing person was buried in a shallow grave and covered with cement,” said Nkosi.
“The deceased's partner was nowhere to be found, and police immediately launched an investigation which led to the arrest of the 40-year-old suspect from his hiding place in Mamelodi outside Pretoria on Thursday, October 17.”
The arrested man is expected to appear before the KwaMhlanga Magistrate's Court on Monday.
Meanwhile, acting police commissioner in Mpumalanga, Major General Zeph Mkhwanazi has appealed to community members to take gender-based violence seriously.
He urged communities to report any incidents of gender-based violence to police, before lives are lost.
“We welcome the arrest, and the members' (police officers) efforts did not go unnoticed,” said Mkhwanazi.
IOL