Wemmer Pan killer
Heather Hogan
The police have launched a criminal investigation into two prison warders at a Johannesburg prison after they allegedly assaulted Cedric Maake, the Wemmer Pan serial killer sentenced to 27 life sentences.
On March 16 this year, shortly after he was admitted to Johannesburg Medium prison, Maake was allegedly assaulted by two warders.
”Both these warders are suspended pending the outcome of a SAPS [South African Police Service] criminal investigation into the matter,” says Rudi Potgieter, correctional services liaison officer for Gauteng. ”The reason for the alleged assault is not known.”
According to Potgieter, Maake sustained minor injuries and received medical attention at the prison, and is now being incarcerated in Pretoria.
A source in Johannesburg Medium prison told the Mail & Guardian that, according to the prison grapevine, ”Maake was assaulted because he is a rapist.”
Maake, whose crime spree spanned more than one-and-a-half years, was arrested in Jeppe in December 1997 but was only sentenced last month.
Although he pleaded not guilty to 133 charges in the Johannesburg High Court, he was given 27 life sentences for the 27 murders he committed during the period, as well as an additional three months and 1E159 years in prison for crimes that included the illegal use of a stolen firearm, robbery, attempted robbery, rape and murder.