Taxi driver helps capture Zimbabwean suspect

According to Insp. Ndwamato Vele, spokesperson for the police in Makhado (Louis Trichardt), the suspect approached the 64-year-old spaza shop owner and asked her for work. The shop owner said that she could not help him and shortly afterwards locked her shop to go and fetch some water.

For some reason, she suspected something was wrong and hurried back to her shop. There she found the door unlocked and her money gone.

The woman suspected the Zimbabwean man and chased after him. By that time, he was entering the site of the new Pick ‘n Pay. Others joined her in her pursuit, but it was only after the shop owner explained what had happened to the driver of a parked taxi along the N1 that things started to happen.

The taxi driver caught up with the suspect at the Information Centre and captured him. Shortly afterwards, the police arrived and arrested the suspect, recovering the money that had been stolen.

The suspect, 23-year-old Solomon Mutaviri, appeared in the Soutpansberg Magistrate’s Court on Friday, September 9. His case was postponed until Friday, September 15. He will remain in custody.

News - Date: 15 September 2006

Riaan de Swardt

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