Five suspects arrested for an alleged attack of retired SABC editor
BLOEMFONTEIN – Five suspects were arrested at their homes in Mangaung near Bloemfontein yesterday (5 May 2020) morning by the Parkweg Tracing team.
Brigadier Motantsi Makhele, a police spokesperson, says the team of Captain Pieter Louw, Sergeant Lebohang Mokau and Constable David Makhura had been working tirelessly to trace three suspects who broke into the flat in Universitas, Bloemfontein and attacked the owner.
He says it is alleged that in the afternoon of Wednesday 29 April 2020, suspects broke into the flat of retired SABC news editor Barry Claasen (65) thereafter attacked and robbed him of his Huawei cellular telephone and vehicle keys then left him in a condition that saw him admitted at a local hospital for treatment.
Makhele says on Sunday 3 May 2020, the person who had taken the responsibility to safeguard the victim`s flat following his admission in hospital arrived at Parkweg Police Station to report that the victim`s garage had been broken into and his Silver Renault Clio stolen. A case of theft of a motor vehicle was registered.
The vehicle was traced by the team and located at a drug post in Zastron Street. The police made an arrest of a well-known 30-year-old alleged motor vehicle thief from Monoko Street in Rocklands, Mangaung. His arrest led to four other arrests; two suspects aged 20 and 31 years staying in Grassland 2, one aged 30 years from Daily street and the last one aged 35 from Abduraman Street in Heidedal were all arrested.
The cases of theft of a motor vehicle and house robbery were linked together and the suspects were charged for both the offences. They will appear in Bloemfontein Magistrate court on Thursday 7 May 2020.
