The man arrested in connection with the murder of a British tourist earlier this week was expected to appear in court on Monday, police said on Friday.
Investigating officer Superintendent Dannie Hall said the man, in his early 20s, was arrested in Bushbuckridge around 11pm on Thursday after police followed up information from the community. Provincial police commissioner Eric Nkabinde said the man had been positively linked to the attack. Police recovered three of Dianne Conway’s credit cards from the suspect.
Mrs Conway was shot dead and her husband, John wounded during an attack at the Royal Hotel on Tuesday night. The couple were on a 10-day tour of South Africa. The Conway?s were about to return to their hotel room, in an outside rondavel, on Tuesday night when an attacker ambushed them. The armed attacker demanded money from the couple and when they refused to comply, the robber opened fire.
Mrs Conway was shot three times in the stomach. She died at the scene. Her husband, a retired army major, was shot in the neck and taken to the Nelspruit Medi-Clinic. The killer fled. The murder was the first one in the village since the Gold Rush and the first ever in the Royal Hotel.
Clinic representative Robyn Freathy said on Friday Mr Conway’s condition was improving on a daily basis. He was expected to be discharged from the clinic later next week. His children, Justin and Karen, arrived in South Africa on Thursday, to be with their father.
Since the attack about 67 detectives have been working around the clock on the case. The incident has been condemned by role-players in South Africa’s tourism industry who put together a R50 000 reward for information leading to the attacker’s arrest. Police also offered a
R50 000 reward.
Members of the British High Commission said on Friday they were aware of the arrest, but did not have any details. The province’s safety and security MEC Thabang Makwetla congratulated the police team on the arrest.
”Whilst deeply regretting the loss of life… and cognisant of the impact that this incident will have on her family, I however, want to commend a very encouraging level of capacity from the provincial serious and violent crime unit under the leadership of… Hall,” he said.
The MEC said the swift and high standard of policing displayed by the crack team would surely contribute towards making Mpumalanga a safe and secure destination for tourists. The commitment to the investigation of the case sent a clear message to criminals that the police would make their lives unpleasant, he said.
Makwetla also thanked the community for its role in the investigations. ”The co-operation given by our people has been tremendous and very helpful.”
He said the investigating team would aim to build a watertight case ”so that these elements can be confined to prisons”.
Nkabinde also congratulated the police team and thanked the community for their support.
He assured the tourism industry that all measures had been taken to ensure that the incident was not repeated. ”The was a once off incident which damaged the image of tourism safety in the Mpumalanga province. This unfortunate incident can, however, be seen as an isolated one.
”I can give the tourism industry the assurance that all possible policing measures are being activated and are in place to prevent a repetition of this incident,” Nkabinde said. – Sapa