Drennen suspect dies
2003-10-01 16:02
Pretoria - A 21-year-old man arrested last month in connection with the murder of a Pretoria woman, her one-year-old daughter and her fiance's mother, has died in hospital, police said on Wednesday.
Tumelo Charles Baloyi, also known as "Fido" died at the GaRankuwa Hospital on Monday afternoon, Pretoria area commissioner Amon Mashigo said in a statement.
Baloyi was arrested in the early hours of September 17 when police acting on information entered a shack in Soshanguve.
Balohi fired, hitting two policemen, and was wounded when police returned fire. Another man, in his 30s, was killed.
Baloyi was the sixth suspect arrested in connection with the hijacking and murder of members of the Rawstone family in July, as well as the rape of an unrelated teenager.
He was to have appeared with the other five in the Themba Magistrate's Court next Friday. They are Thabo Mkhari, Joseph Mohlala, Godfrey Mkhabela, Lucky Baloyi and William Kekana.
Janine Drennen, 24, her one-year-old daughter Kayla and her fiance's mother, Hester Rawstone, 52, were hijacked in Sunnyside, Pretoria, on July 31.
The hijackers shot Rawstone in the neck and dumped her body at the corner of Soutpansberg and Hebron roads in the suburb of Riviera.
They then drove to Stinkwater near Hammanskraal, kidnapping a teenaged girl along the way. They took their captives to an open veld, where they raped Drennen and the girl before shooting them and the baby.
The teenager was the only one who survived.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Morné van Wyk said inquest dockets have been opened into Baloyi's death as well as that of his unidentified companion on the night of the shooting.
The policemen injured that day have since recovered.
- SAPA