WeeklySA_AdminCUSTODY: Four men with previous criminal convictions bust with high-calibre weapons…
By Monk Nkomo
Meticulous detective work by a team of crack detectives led to the major breakthrough in the arrest of five more suspects and confiscation of high-calibre assault rifles allegedly linked to the brutal murder of 18 people, including 15 women in Nyathi village, Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape last month.
Spurred by positive information received from community members, the team of investigators who also relied on intelligence, recovered the most important piece of evidence that could nail the murder suspects – three AK47 assault rifles and a 243 Steyr Mannlicher rifle – which were found in possession of two suspects who were arrested in Flagstaff on Thursday night, according to South African Police Services spokesperson, Brigadier Athlende Mathe.
The two were arrested hours after the police, after a tip-off from a member of the public, surprised three other dangerous suspects who were hiding at a rented accommodation at Mkholombe informal settlement in Port Shepstone.
The three – Aphiwe Ndende, Lwando Anthony Shakes and Bonga Hintsa – appeared briefly in a packed Lusikisiki Magistrate’s Court on Friday where they applied for legal aid but declined to apply for bail.
They all have previous convictions. The accused face 18 counts of murder. The matter was postponed to November 26 for further investigations. On that day, they would be joined by their co-accused, Siphosoxolo Myekethe (45) who was arrested on October 7 and had also abandoned his application for bail.
A spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority in the Eastern Cape, Luxolo Tyali, said the two suspects who were arrested in Flagstaff on Thursday night, were currently facing charges of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. The results of the ballistic tests of the weapons allegedly seized in their possession would determine if they were involved in the massacre of the 18 people in Lusikisiki.
Mathe, in a statement, confirmed the latest arrest of the two suspetcs and said preliminary investigations indicated that the weapons that were allegedly used in the killings, were moved to another location after the crime. The high-calibre firearms had been taken for ballistics testing to determine and confirm if they were used in the commission of this crime and to also determine which other crime scenes could be linked to the accused.
Police have announced that they had also confiscated a car that was allegedly used by the accused during the commitment of this heinous crime. They were also in hot pursuit of another accused believed to be the mastermind whom they expected to arrest very soon.
Asked if they were confident that they had arrested the right people who had committed this senseless murder and having raised hope from the Lusikisiki community that the killers would be in jail for a long time, Tyali was adamant that they had what he termed ‘’a water-tight case’’ which could result in the conviction of the accused.
Both the police Minister, Senzo Mchunu and National Police Commissioner, Fannie Masemola, lauded the men and women in blue as well as community members in helping to trace and arrest those allegedly involved in the massacre of the 15 women and three men in Lusikisiki.
‘’This is what the police service can achieve when the whole country rallies behind our men and women in blue’’, Masemola said.
