Klerksdorp – Six men are expected to line up in the Klerksdorp Magistrate's Court after a vigilante attack on an alleged kidnap and rape suspect.
Police in Jouberton said 9 people were arrested after the 40-year-old man's death.
SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Funani said the community accused the man of kidnapping and raping a 9-year-old girl.
“According to information, a case of a missing person was reported at Jouberton police station on Tuesday, August 9. Consequently, community members mobilised and started to search for the missing girl the next day. Reports suggest that members of the community caught and assaulted the victim with stones, sjamboks and other objects.
“The police were summoned and on arrival at the scene, they rescued the man who was admitted to hospital, where he later died. It is alleged that members of the community then stabbed and damaged the tyres of the police Nissan bakkie and torched it,” Funani said.
She added that police opened a case of murder and malicious damage to property.
Funani said three people in their early twenties were arrested and charged with malicious damage to property on Friday last week.
They have since appeared in court. Six other suspects ranging in age from 17 and 62 were arrested and charged with murder.
SAPS North West commissioner Lieutenant General Sello Kwena pleaded with the public to refrain from taking law into their own hands, but to work with the police in the fight against crime in their communities.
IOL