By Agreement Mabunda
POLOKWANE-Two more suspects are allegedly responsible for the carjacking and murder of a male bolt-metered taxi driver, whose lifeless body was found in the Westernburg area on Monday 09 October 2023.
The 17-year-old minor suspect was arrested on Tuesday 10 October 2023 in Ladanna outside Polokwane following an intelligence-led operation by members of the SAPS Polokwane Crime Intelligence Unit in collaboration with the Westernburg Detectives.
Two of his accomplices, ages 15 and 16, were arrested on Friday, 13 October 2023 after they handed themselves to the police, accompanied by their parents.
The hijacked motor vehicle was found abandoned in the park at Ladine in Polokwane.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects requested to be ferried by a bolt-metered taxi, and along the way they stabbed the driver to death afterwards, burned, and dumped the body on a newly developed site near the Place of Safety Shelter in the Westenburg Policing area.
The police’s investigations have managed to identify the deceased
The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Limpopo, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, has lauded the swift arrest of the two teenagers.
“All of the arrested suspects in this horrendous crime were found to be minors, which is very disturbing that our children are now involved in such criminal activities. This youngster exhibits an unbelievable lack of moral fibre by robbing the victims and murdering them so brutally that it is unacceptable in this province. Concluded Lieutenant General Hadebe.
The minor suspects are expected to appear before the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court in due course following the completion of the diversion programs with the probation officer and the social workers.
