JOHANNESBURG - Police have yet to confirm the nationality of a man arrested in connection with the murder of one of several women whose bodies were discovered in Ekurhuleni.
The suspect was arrested after the body of a woman was found on 15 July in an open field near the R21 in Kempton Park.
The woman was found naked and had been restrained with cable ties.
The suspect appeared in court on Wednesday, where the matter was postponed to a later date. He remains in custody at the Modderbee Correctional Facility in Benoni.
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Deputy National Police Commissioner for Policing, Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili, says investigators are working to establish the suspect’s nationality using his fingerprints.
“We want to get the fingerprints from police and the prison so that we can confirm the nationality. At the moment, we cannot say, yes, he’s a non-South African, but we have been informed that he’s a non-South African. But from which country, that is what we will establish later today.”
Mosikili says police are also gathering additional intelligence on the suspect to determine whether he could be linked to any of the other bodies recovered in the area.
She pointed out that two more bodies were discovered in the same vicinity after the first woman’s body was found.
“You will recall that when the first body was recovered, two more bodies were recovered in the same area.”
Police say further investigations will be key to establishing whether there is a connection between the cases and whether the suspect may be linked to any additional murders.
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