A fourth suspect in the Hillary Gardee murder case, Hlabirwa Rasie Nkune, abandoned bail in another matter regarding the killing of a woman he allegedly met on Facebook.
Nkune appeared briefly in the Delmas magistrate's court on Monday on charges of kidnapping, robbery with aggregating circumstances, murder and possession of unlicensed firearm and ammunition, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brig Selvy Mohlala said: "He did not want to apply for bail. The case has been postponed to August 22 for further investigation."
Nkune was arrested on Thursday night in a sting operation in Kwa-Thema, Springs, on the East Rand, for allegedly killing the woman from Midrand.
According to the police, the two met on Facebook and arranged to meet last week and the woman was attacked and robbed.
She was left for dead in Delmas, Mpumalanga, and had allegedly shown a passerby who found her Nkune's Facebook profile.
Mohlala said the woman also managed to identify her attacker to the police, telling the officers the man allegedly lured her via the social media platform to a date in Benoni, on the East Rand, just over a week ago. It was supposed to be their first meeting.
Nkune has also been linked to the murders of Gardee and the Mazibuko sisters – his girlfriend Pretty and her police officer sister Marcia in Kanyamazane, Mbombela, on May 15 – just 12 days after Gardee's body was found.
Mohlala said Nkune is expected to appear in the Nelspruit magistrate's court on Wednesday for Gardee's murder case and would soon be in the dock in the Kanyamazane magistrate's court for the Mazibuko sisters' killing.
newsdesk@sowetan.co.za
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