Naauwpoort- North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management Gaoage Molapisi send his heartfelt condolences to the family of an 83-year-old woman who was allegedly raped and strangled to death by an unknown suspect at her own home in Naauwpoort village outside Mahikeng.

It is alleged that the suspect forcefully gained entrance into the house through the window where the woman was sleeping together with her grandchild on Sunday, but the case was only reported to the Mooifontein police station on Monday morning.

During the crime scene investigation by police, it was apparent that the woman was raped before being strangled, and she had no visible injuries.

According to the police, the community arrested the suspect Tuesday and eventually handed him over to the Mooifontein police.

MEC Molapisi applauded the communities of Naauwpoort for handing over the suspect to the Mooifontein police unharmed.

He said the province is in need of people such as the Naauwpoort community who took initiative on arresting the suspect and acted responsibly by handing him to the police.

“We have experienced a number of incidents where communities took law into their hands, attacked and even kill the suspect but in this case, we would like to appreciate what the community has done.

This is the true partnership that we request from our communities, with these efforts we will win the fight against crime,” said Molapisi.

The police are still interviewing the suspect to see if indeed he is linked to the crime.

MEC requests the community to have confidence that the police will leave no stone unturned on the investigation of the case and further pleaded their patience.

“They have done an outstanding job, now all we request is their patience, they must give our police enough time to conduct proper investigation and have trust in our justice system,” he said.

The departmental MEC strongly condemned the rape and murder incidents and further requested communities to partner with government in protecting the lives of elder people in the country.
-TDN
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