Local News
Four arrested for missing soldier's murder─── 21:07 Sat, 16 May 2015
Bloemfontein - Four suspects, three men and a woman, have been arrested in connection with the murder of a soldier stationed at the Tempe military base in Bloemfontein.
According to Free State police spokesperson Thandi Mbambo, 41-year-old Staff Sergeant Phillip Moea Senkge was reported missing on 28 March 2015. He was returning from Welkom and his blue Polo was found abandoned on the N1 near Bloemfontein.
She explains the body had a tattoo on the left hand that is similar to the one Senkge was identified with.
“A knife that is believed to be a murder weapon was found next to the body.”
Mbambo adds the discovery of the body follows the arrest of four suspects, “three men and a woman in Botshabelo and Bronville yesterday and in the early hours today”.
Phillip allegedly gave four Lesotho men a lift from Welkom to Bloemfontein. After he passed the tollgate on the R30 road near Brandford, the men allegedly requested him to stop so they could relieve themselves as they were drinking, which he did. “After which the suspects overpowered him, robbed him of a cellphone and wallet then allegedly dragged him to an open veld near Glen where he was stabbed and killed,” says Mbambo.
The suspects then fled with his Polo sedan, which they left along the N1 after it allegedly experienced mechanical problems.
Mbambo says the woman, the first to be arrested in Botshabelo yesterday where she was attending a family funeral, was traced through the deceased`s cellphone, which led to the arrest of her brother, and the two suspects who were allegedly part of the four involved in the murder. The other two are still at large.
According to Mbambo, the suspects will appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on Monday (18 May 2015) - two on the charges of hijacking and murder, and the other two (brother and sister) on the charge of possession of suspected stolen property.
“The body will be referred for forensic tests so as to positively confirm if it is the missing Staff Sergeant Senkge and to determine the cause of death.”
The investigation continues.
Christal-Lize Muller/OFM News
Free State police spokesperson Thandi Mbambo on SANDF member's murder:
