Rustenburg - Nine people were arrested after they allegedly sjamboked a man to death in QwaQwa, Free State police said on Tuesday.
Spokesperson Warrant Officer Mmako Mophiring said the group from the Kgoptjane section of Bolata Village in QwaQwa were arrested on Monday after they allegedly beat a man to death. They accused him of stealing from them.
"It is alleged that on Monday, 3 January 2022, at approximately 17:00, Tseki police were summoned to a crime scene at Kgoptjane section, where the community reported the assault of a man by a group of people. On their arrival at the scene, the police found the man lying on the ground near a primary school with multiple visible injuries and was declared dead by emergency medical service," he said.
He said, according to an eyewitness, the man was at a residential place with his cousin when a group of people arrived carrying sjamboks accusing him of stealing their belongings. They allegedly started beating him until he became unconscious. An ambulance was summoned to the crime scene, and he was declared dead.
He said the man was identified as Themba Petrus Pali, 25, of Semphurwaneng section of Bolata Village in QwaQwa.
"The suspects were also found at the crime scene in possession of sjamboks, and nine of them were arrested and detained."
They were expected to appear in the Tseki Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, facing charges of murder.
Free State provincial commissioner, Lieutenant General Baile Motswenyane, said taking the law into one’s hands has never been a solution within any society to curb crime.
"When patrolling our villages and self-initiated community patrollers, it does not give us the right to assault any person suspected of having committed any form of crime. The person must be apprehended and handed over to the police without any injuries. Everyone is regarded as innocent until proven guilty before the court of law. I want to applaud the police for the arrests made," she said.
IOL