SEKGOPO – When Mr Matome Alpheus Matlou (50) paid his girlfriend a visit at her home at Sekgopo in the Ritavi area last Saturday night, little did he know that he was going to die the very same night.

His girlfriend was not at home when he arrived, but that was not much of a problem to him. He opened the door of the girlfriend’s bedroom, locked the room from inside and slept on the bed. Capt Maano Sadiki, the spokesperson for the police in the Mopani area, said that the girlfriend came back home towards midnight.

According to the police statement, the woman was in the company of another boyfriend. On arrival, the girlfriend and her boyfriend discovered that the room was locked from inside. They knocked several times but the deceased did not respond.

They broke the door open but before they could enter into the room, the deceased jumped out of the room naked. He was holding an axe in his hand. According to the statement, the axeman chased the woman and the boyfriend around the house.

At that stage, the woman was screaming for help. A group of residents arrived at the scene shortly thereafter. The group then started chasing the naked man. They apprehended him some distance away from the girlfriend’s home.

The mob allegedly tied the man’s hands and feet before assaulting him with various objects, including stones and wooden sticks. He died on the spot. In a statement that was released early this week, the police have appealed to the people not to take the law into their own hands, saying they should instead hand the suspects to them in situations like that.