Pretoria – A 21-year-old man is due to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court today, after he was arrested in connection with the murder of six women who are believed to be sex workers.
Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili said the bodies of the women were discovered on Sunday.
“The police were called to the building due to a foul smell coming out of one of the rooms. That is when a body of a woman was found. A preliminary investigation led the police to the suspect, believed to be the last person seen with the… woman,” said Muridili.
“It is reported that on the 2nd of October 2022 at 8pm, the suspect was seen with the… woman… Her body was discovered on Sunday morning. The clothes she was wearing matches the description of one of the missing persons reported recently.”
Upon questioning the suspect, Muridili said police officers went back to the building and discovered five more bodies outside the building, where there is a makeshift workshop and rubbish dumpsters.
“Unfortunately, the other five bodies are at a late stage of decomposition. They will be subjected to forensic analysis for identification,” she said.
“The suspect will be charged with six counts of murder. The provincial murder and robbery unit is investigating.”
In May, the Pretoria Regional Court sentenced serial murderer 42-year-old Shaun Oosthuizen to an additional fourth direct life imprisonment for murder plus 80 years imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances.
On July 8, 2018, Oosthuizen travelled from Gauteng to Nelspruit where he went to Macadamia Old Age Home to rob and kill 85-year-old Henrietta Catharina Potgieter, said to Hawks spokesperson in Mpumalanga Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi.
He was arrested and was later released on bail.
“While he was out on bail, the accused further committed another murder of an elderly resident, Barbara Esme Fenton, 74, by strangling her to death on 1 September 2018 at her home in Alberton. The Hawks’ investigation led to the arrest of Oosthuizen immediately after the incident and he was further linked to another murder that occurred on 24 June 2018, when Engela van Wyk, 86, was killed and robbed at Rus n’ Bietjie Old Age Home in Springs,” Sekgotodi said.
“The accused was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for Van Wyk’s murder and 15 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances.”
In December 2019, Oosthuizen was sentenced to life imprisonment for Fenton’s death and 20 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances. He was sentenced to three life sentences for killing three old women and 50 years for robbing them.
During his imprisonment, he confessed to the investigating officer that he had killed other victims in Sunnyside and Roodepoort.
IOL