Police have tracked down the men believed to have targeted, raped and brutalised elderly women in KwaZul-Natal.
|||KwaZulu-Natal - Police have tracked down the men who are alleged to have targeted, raped and brutalised elderly women in a spate of recent attacks in Pietermaritzburg.
Members of the Pietermaritzburg Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit have arrested a 25-year-old man in connection with the rape of an 82-year-old woman in Swayimane.
Police spokeswoman Lieutenant Joey Jeevan, confirmed on Monday that the suspect had been positively linked to the rape by means of DNA analysis.
The elderly woman was attacked at her home on the evening of July 28. The man forced his way into the woman’s home as she slept in her bed and raped her.
On Friday night, members of the Pietermaritzburg Cluster Tracking Team arrested a 29-year-old man at a house in Unit 18, Imbali.
The man is charged with the assault, robbery and rape of the 74-year-old woman, who was attacked in her home in Buckley Road, Bisley, early on August 25.
The woman was badly beaten and had several items stolen from her home, including a sewing machine, which was found in the 29-year-old man’s home.
Jeevan said these arrests followed 10 days after a 36-year-old suspect was arrested at a beer hall in Retief Street in the Pietermaritzburg CBD in connection with the rape of a 91-year-old woman at her home in Hayfields.
The woman was attacked this month at her home in Mills Circle. She was tied up and raped twice before the assailant made off with cash and other items.
The arrested suspects were expected to make an appearance in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court shortly.
KZN provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni praised the units for their work.
“We are turning the tide against crime in general and focusing on crimes perpetrated against the elderly, vulnerable women and children, in particular,” said the commissioner. - Daily News