Rape suspects not linked to murder

Onalenna Kelebeile | Tuesday November 3, 2015 16:17

 

The decomposed body of the heavily pregnant 19-year-old former student was discovered at a hill behind Newstands location some days before Independence Day.

On Independence Day, two women aged between 20 and 23 years met two strangers who offered to escort them to their home, only for the strangers to force them towards a nearby hill where one woman was reportedly raped. The other woman fought off the perpetrators.

While the fighting continued, the young man who had finished raping the other woman attempted to assist his friend to overpower the other woman to rape her, the young woman defended herself by biting off a piece of his finger.

Assistant superintendent Sone Masalila said during an interview that the rape and attempted rape suspects have been remanded in custody after appearing in court.

“So far there is no evidence linking the two young men to the murder and we are still awaiting the results from the laboratory. We have not even made any arrests in the murder case,” he added.

One of the rape victims who bit off a piece of the rapist’s finger gave it to the police the following morning.

This prompted the police to inform all health facilities around town to alert them of anybody who would present a cut finger and this led to the arrest of the victim a day after the rape incident.

The suspected rapist was arrested after he visited one of the health facilities for medical attention. The two accused persons’ bail application was revoked because they have similar pending cases before the court.

One issue that the police investigated after the duo’s arrest was to establish any link to the murder case.