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Crime bites: Funeral parlour owner arrested for assault

Sbongile Nonyana brings you South Africa’s latest crime news.

Musina – The owner of a funeral parlour and his employee from Musina are facing charges of assault GBH after beating up a foreign national accused of burglary at their business premises. On 24 January, police stopped a suspicious white Toyota Fortuner with Limpopo registration plates. Officers observed that the back seats of the vehicle were covered in blood. The driver admitted that both he and his employee had assaulted a man who he alleged had stolen from them. The driver – whose legal firearm was confiscated for investigation – was taken to Musina police station where he contacted his employee to bring the assaulted man to the station. The victim was unable to speak due to the severity of his injuries. An ambulance was called, and the injured man was transported to a nearby hospital. The two suspects – the 29-year-old funeral parlour owner and a 47-year-old employee – have been arrested and are facing charges of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. They appeared before the Musina Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 27 January.

KwaNdebele – The police in Mpumalanga have heightened visibility after 51 Putco buses were torched at depots in the KwaNdebele region of the Nkangala district municipality on Monday. Sixteen buses were burnt at the Moloto depot in KwaMhlanga, 18 at Maphotla and 17 at Thanane in Siyabuswa. Fifteen suspects, wearing black clothes and balaclavas, stormed the bus depot at Moloto and held the employees at gunpoint. They fired shots and injured one security guard. About 10 suspects attacked and assaulted a security guard, then torched 18 buses at Maphotla, and another 10 suspects went to the bus depot in Thanane. The two injured guards were taken to hospital. The armed suspects were driving a white Toyota Quantum. Police are investigating various charges, including malicious damage to property, attempted murder, and assault with GBH.

Polokwane – Limpopo police are on a manhunt for livestock thieves after a 34-year-old man reported that six goats valued at R12,000 were stolen from the kraal at plot number 32 Portion 19, in Beaufort, Levubu between 24 and 25 January. He said all gates were locked and when he woke up in the morning he discovered that unknown perpetrators had gained entrance to the kraal by cutting the fence. A pair of black pliers was found at the fence on the ground. The goats are not branded and a case of stock theft was registered for further investigation. Livestock owners are sternly warned to brand mark their animals so that investigators can easily identify them.

Skukuza – The Skukuza Regional Court delivered lengthy sentences to two men for rhino poaching-related offences on Friday, 24 January, while a third man received a sentence of only four years. Sam Khosa, 40, and Oddis Maluleke, 46 – a South African and a Mozambican – will spend 22 years behind bars. A second South African, Solly Bennett Selahle, 30, was sentenced to four years for conspiracy to commit a crime. The three were arrested in Kruger National Park in February 2019, along with a Kruger field ranger, Phillip Gumede, 39, arrested as an accomplice. Gumede passed away after falling sick during the trial.

Pictured above: The firearm and car of one of the suspects now charged with assault in Musina.

Source: Limpopo SAPS