North West police have nabbed a man at Dr Kenneth Kaunda District on Tuesday, who they believe is the serial rapist who has been terrorising the communities of Potchefstroom, Ikageng and Klerksdorp.
The 38-year-old man was arrested after the Provincial Task Team received a tip-off.
More than 15 cases
According to North West police spokesperson Colonel Adele Myburgh the police have been probing more than 15 rape cases that were reported between September 2021 and October 2022.
Police noticed the cases in the three communities had a similar modus operandi.
Further investigations revealed that the alleged perpetrator would target Zimbabwean ladies, who are fluent in Shona. He would lure his victims via social media, usually Facebook, by advertising jobs.
The tip-off led police to a house in Alabama, Klerksdorp, where they apprehended the suspect.
“A knife found in his possession as well as various cellular phone sim cards were seized. The team then proceeded to the suspect’s residence in Jouberton, Extension 11, where 11 bags, full of lady’s clothes (suspected to be belonging to victims), eight cellular phones and more sim cards were also seized,” said Myburgh.
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First case reported in September 2021
The first incident was reported in Potchefstroom on 9 September 2021, where the victim was lured via WhatsApp, through the promise of employment, by someone she thought was a woman.
The 27-year-old woman from Johannesburg told police that they arranged to meet at a shopping centre near a taxi rank in Potchefstroom. The lady she was speaking to via WhatsApp arranged for a man to get her at the shopping centre.
“She and the man boarded a taxi and alighted at Extension 11, Ikageng. The man allegedly took the woman to a bushy and secluded place, next to the N12 road, where she was ultimately overpowered, strangled, raped and robbed of her personal property,” said Myburgh.
The accused briefly appeared at the Potchefstroom Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on multiple charges of kidnapping, rape and robbery.
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