Family murder: 4th man in court

2003-08-08 19:30

Pretoria - A fourth suspect linked to last week's hijacking and murder of three members of a Pretoria family appeared in the Temba magistrate's court on Friday.

The court ruled Thabo Mkhari, 30, from Stinkwater near Hammanskraal, would appear in the court again on August 18, along with the three other suspects.

He remained in custody, police spokesperson Captain Piletji Sebola said. Mkhari was arrested on Tuesday.

The four men would face charges of hijacking, rape and murder, Sebola said.

The other three - Joseph Mohlala, Godfrey Mkhabela and Lucky Baloyi - appeared in the same court on Monday. They are also in custody.

The three men, all in their 20s, are also residents of Stinkwater where they were apprehended last Friday night.

The arrests followed the hijacking last Thursday of Janine Drennen, 24, her one-year-old baby daughter Kayla, and her fiance's mother Hester Rawstone, 52, in Sunnyside, Pretoria.

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, where they kidnapped a teenage girl. The assailants raped Drennen and the girl before shooting both, along with Kayla.

The teenager survived and was admitted to the Jubilee Hospital, but Drennen and the baby died.

- SAPA