By Staff Reporter
news@alexreporter.co.za
The Acting Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Major General (Dr) Zeph Mkhwanazi has strongly condemned a Domestic Violence incident which occurred at Carolina on Tuesday, 20 August 2024 whereby a woman (22) was allegedly set alight by her male companion (34).
During the incident, it is said that the suspect poured some flammable liquid on the woman, before she was saved by her neighbours. The woman is currently fighting for her life in hospital meanwhile the men and women in Blue responded swiftly, where they traced and arrested the male suspect, few hours later.
According to a report, in the early hours of 20 August 2024 around 03h00 am, neighbours were woken up by some noise of a woman screaming for help.
When they went out to investigate, they saw a woman in agony, inside the flames of fire whilst her male companion was busy pouring her with some liquid from a two-litre container.
When he realized that the neighbours were coming to her rescue, the man abandoned what he was doing then fled the scene.
The neighbours did their best to extinguish the fire whilst the female victim was taken to hospital for medical treatment.
Police were alerted about the incident and a case of attempted murder has since been opened. Police immediately commenced with the investigation, leading to the suspect being apprehended on the same day of the incident (in the evening of Tuesday, 20 August 2024).
The suspect appeared at Carolina Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, 22 August 2024 facing charges of attempted murder.
Meanwhile, Mkhwanazi reiterated that incidents of Gender-Based-Violence were considered by the SAPS as serious and were to be attended to as a matter of urgency.
“We are really disturbed by these types of incidents of violence perpetuated against women during August month where we celebrate women.
The swift arrest of the suspect is well commended and we hope that justice will be served for the victim. This shows our commitment to deal decisively with crime against women and children. We wish a speedy recovery to the victim,” said the General.
