RESIDENTS of Ndevana called for bail to be refused for three suspects who appeared in court yesterday charged with the murder of a mother and her two children.
“We have no place for such immoral people and we hope they rot in jail,” said villagers of the suspects, who appeared in the Zwelitsha Magistrate’s Court.
The men were arrested days after the bodies of the mother and her two children, aged four months and five years, were discovered in pit toilets in Ndevana outside King William’s Town.
The bodies had many stab wounds and were covered in blood-soaked blankets.
The murders shocked the community and prompted a visit to the area by social development MEC Pemmy Majodina and provincial police commissioner Lieutenant- General Celiwe Binta.
The case was postponed yesterday to May 7 for a formal bail application. The suspects have not been asked to plead and have been held in custody until their next court appearance.
Villagers applauded the swift arrests of suspects, but said they would only be able to sleep peacefully once the problem was uprooted.
Binta last week named the village as one of the hotspots for the brutal murder of women and children.
He said after noticing a “spike in gruesome murders of women and children in the province” police worked out a way to identify the hotspots and this village was named as one of them.
“We have since prioritised the area and have already had positive results by making arrests,” Binta said last week.
Police were not able to provide exact numbers, but a local councillor, Nkosinathi Mpathalala, said eight people had been killed during the festive season alone.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, villagers blamed the increase in murders in the area on drug dealers, who had “invaded the village and lured the youth”.
Mcebisi Mbawule, who discovered the bodies of the children, said that it was around 1pm on Thursday when a man knocked on his door . “The suspect just came to our house and confessed everything. We were shocked because we knew him, he lives in the same village. We immediately called the police and he was arrested and named accomplices that are also known to the community,” said Mbawule.
Provincial police spokeswoman Colonel Sibongile Soci confirmed that the men were from the same village. —
E Cape villagers oppose bail
“We have no place for such immoral people and we hope they rot in jail,” said villagers of the suspects, who appeared in the Zwelitsha Magistrate’s Court.
The men were arrested days after the bodies of the mother and her two children, aged four months and five years, were discovered in pit toilets in Ndevana outside King William’s Town.
The bodies had many stab wounds and were covered in blood-soaked blankets.
The murders shocked the community and prompted a visit to the area by social development MEC Pemmy Majodina and provincial police commissioner Lieutenant- General Celiwe Binta.
The case was postponed yesterday to May 7 for a formal bail application. The suspects have not been asked to plead and have been held in custody until their next court appearance.
Villagers applauded the swift arrests of suspects, but said they would only be able to sleep peacefully once the problem was uprooted.
Binta last week named the village as one of the hotspots for the brutal murder of women and children.
He said after noticing a “spike in gruesome murders of women and children in the province” police worked out a way to identify the hotspots and this village was named as one of them.
“We have since prioritised the area and have already had positive results by making arrests,” Binta said last week.
Police were not able to provide exact numbers, but a local councillor, Nkosinathi Mpathalala, said eight people had been killed during the festive season alone.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, villagers blamed the increase in murders in the area on drug dealers, who had “invaded the village and lured the youth”.
Mcebisi Mbawule, who discovered the bodies of the children, said that it was around 1pm on Thursday when a man knocked on his door . “The suspect just came to our house and confessed everything. We were shocked because we knew him, he lives in the same village. We immediately called the police and he was arrested and named accomplices that are also known to the community,” said Mbawule.
Provincial police spokeswoman Colonel Sibongile Soci confirmed that the men were from the same village. —
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