/ 1 January 2002

Police seek last suspect in Alex school killing

Police detectives were still in Alexandra on Thursday night attempting to trace the last person wanted in connection with the kidnapping and murder of 20-year-old school pupil Paseka Simon Mokone earlier in the week.

Police representative Inspector Amanda Roestoff said eight of the 15 adults and youths arrested in connection with the kidnapping and the subsequent assault that led to Mokone’s death had appeared in court by Thursday.

The first four appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. They were Sipho Mabasa (20) and Shepherd Macazana (19) as well as two youths aged 16 and 17. They were facing charges related to kidnapping, murder and the possession of unlicensed arms and ammunition.

Charles (19)and Shadrick Motsima (20) as well as another two youths, aged 16 and 17, appeared in the same court on Thursday on charges of murder and kidnapping. All were remanded in custody and were to appear together on October 23. The other seven, aged between 14 and 31, were likely to become state witnesses, Roestoff said. Eleven of the arrests were affected in Alexandra and three in Soweto. The details of the last arrest were not immediately available. – Sapa