Mr Prince Ludere is not a bad man ... So says his attorney, Mr Desmond Mphaphuli from Louis Trichardt.

Mphaphuli provided the newspaper with a withdrawal statement by the complainant in an attempted-murder and rape case against the 41-year-old Ludere that refuted claims made by the police in an article that appeared in last week’s Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror. In the report, police claim that Ludere was evading arrest and that a manhunt had been launched for his capture.

Provincial police spokesperson Lt Col Mohale Ramatseba stated last week that Ludere had allegedly burnt a 31-year-old woman by pouring paraffin over her and setting her alight, after which he raped her. Ramatseba said that the police only learnt about the crime when Ludere threatened to kill the woman, after which she sought the help of the police.

On the same day that Ramatseba confirmed to the newspaper that the police were still continuing their search for Ludere, the woman apparently made a statement before a certain Duncan Nape Morifi, an attorney in the “Polokwane area.” A handwritten copy of this document was provided to the newspaper by Mphaphuli.

According to the woman’s statement “the matter has been resolved amicably – and that I should not be forced or threatened to proceed with this matter [sic].”

The statement further reads: “As such, I finally state that this matter should be withdraw immediately”.

On Tuesday, Ramatseba confirmed via e-mail that, because the woman was not proceeding with the case, the police had decided not to arrest Ludere. He added, however, that the case had been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions to decide whether or not to proceed with the case against Ludere.

Meanwhile, Ludere will still have to appear in the Louis Trichardt Regional Court on September 19 on a charge of the illegal possession of a firearm. He, together with Tsepo Moepi (39) from Seshego, Alfred Nkuna (40) and Nnkwamato Maphala (45) from Mamelodi and Lesetja Reuben Moloto (39) and Christopher Maleka from Polokwane, is accused of being involved in a planned armed robbery near Eltivillas last year.