Limpopo, South Africa – One of South Africa’s top 50 most wanted people has been arrested in connection with seven rapes, three robberies and two escape incidents.
Chris Sithole, who also goes by the name Leon Nkomo, was arrested in Musina in Limpopo on Tuesday and handed over to the North West Provincial Tracking Team, News24 reports.
He was taken to Brits to face seven charges of rape, three of robbery and one of housebreaking and theft.
The offences were allegedly committed between January 2012 and February 2021.
He appeared in the Brits Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday and the case was postponed to 7 October. He is in custody.
Providing details of some of the allegations against Sithole, North West police spokesperson, Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone, said Sithole and two of his friends gang-raped a woman in Brits in May 2012, after she and her husband were involved in an accident.
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“A couple was travelling in their vehicle when they saw stones placed on the N4 road in the vicinity of Bokfontein, near Brits. The husband then reduced the speed to stop, but the vehicle overturned just after the couple heard the sound of car tyres bursting. The couple was rescued out of the vehicle by three males who then took turns to rape the woman.”
The three assailants then fled from the scene. After some time, Sithole was arrested for several crimes, but escaped from custody in February 2017.
He said, he was rearrested, but escaped while in detention at Mogwase Correctional Centre.
Sithole was also linked to a housebreaking committed in Brits in February 2021, Mokgwabone said.
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“According to information, the occupant of the house was woken up by an activated alarm. On investigation, he realised that the intruder gained entrance into the house and stole clothes and various electrical appliances worth R20 500.”
He was finally rearrested on Tuesday in Limpopo.
North West police commissioner, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena, said the arrest would “definitely send a clear message that no place is difficult to get to in the country for the police to bring offenders to book”.
Kwena also applauded North West and Limpopo police for their collaboration.
