This has been reconfirmed after a 28-year-old pregnant woman was brutally murdered in 2010 location on Monday 20 January.

It is alleged that the woman was seven months pregnant at the time of her death. Police spokesperson Motantsi Makhele says the woman was at her boyfriend’s house when the boyfriend decided to accompany his brother for hospital treatment. As the boyfriend was leaving he met his friend (24), who is also the suspect, at the gate. The suspect demanded R20 he allegedly owed him. He gave him R10 and said he will repay the outstanding R10 when he returned. The suspect allegedly went back to the shack later and stabbed the girlfriend several times.

She was found by the boyfriends’ mother who went to check on her as she witnessed the suspect leaving and suspected something. Upon her arrival, she found the door closed. When she opened it she saw blood in the shack. The police were called and they started their investigation by immediately interviewing people. They managed to trace the suspect and found him in Jerusalem Park. Makhele says a knife and clothes full of blood were confiscated and he was arrested immediately. He will appear in the Welkom Magistrate’s Court for murder.

Provincial Commissioner, Baile Motswenyane, applauded the community of Thabong for opening up to the police after this incident as the crucial information provided by them made the job of the police easier to trace and arrest the suspect within a very short space of time.

On 8 December 2019, Nthabiseng Rampai was found in her bedroom at De Wet Street, Reitzpark, in Welkom. It is alleged Rampai was raped and murdered in her bedroom by a suspect who waited for her father to leave the house before he broke in and attacked her.

On 3 January 2020, a half-burned body with a tyre around it was found in Thabong, Welkom. The police spokesperson, Stephen Thakeng, confirmed that the body was still burning when authorities arrived on the scene before 08:00 am. The police were unable to confirm the gender of the deceased, who was wearing black jeans at the time he/she was brutally murdered.

OFM News/Marvin Ntsane