Four suspects have been arrested in connection with several charges including housebreaking, rape, murder and attempted murder after three men broke into a house in Vukani in the early hours of Saturday 14 September.
Four suspects have been arrested in connection with several charges including housebreaking, rape, murder and attempted murder after three men broke into a house in Vukani in the early hours of Saturday 14 September.
At this stage, police suspect this "heinous" attack on a Vukani woman and four girls living with her was motivated by robbery.
According to a statement by police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender, the men woke the occupants of the house – a woman and four girls between the ages of 8 and 19 – in the early hours of Saturday morning.
After getting no money from woman, they beat her with a hammer, raped and strangled her. They also stabbed a 15-year-old girl in the head and bound her hands and feet. According to police however, she is not in a critical state.
Three other people – the murdered woman's neice, daughter and the daughter's friend – were left unhurt but "severely traumatised".
"The suspects fled with a Samsung Plasma TV, a Sony DVD with speakers and cellphones," said Govender. "At around 6am, the 15 year old neice of the deceased managed to get to a neighbour and summon for help."
Brigadier Vakala Moyake, Grahamstown’s Cluster Commander, expressed shock at this incident, calling it a "heinous crime".
According to a report by Algoa FM, Govender says two men aged 34 and 44 were arrested on Saturday night, and two men, both in their twenties, were arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning.
