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Cops release sugar cane suspect
08/10/2007 13:47 - (SA)
Durban - A fourth man arrested in connection with 10 decomposed bodies found in the KwaZulu-Natal south coast sugarcane fields has been released because of "insufficient evidence", police said on Monday.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Zandra Hechter said the man, who was taken into custody on Wednesday for questioning before being charged on Friday, was released on Sunday, barely hours before he was due to appear in court on Monday.
"We released him last night. There was insufficient evidence linking him to the case," she said.
Police initially arrested five people, three women and two men, in connection with the murders.
Two of the suspects were later released. Of the five arrested, two men and a woman appeared in the Umzinto Magistrate's Court last week on charges of abduction and murder.
They are expected to appear in the Umzinto Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.
Bodies exhumed
On Sunday police announced the discovery of a 10th body in the fields surrounding Umzinto's Shayamoya township.
Hechter said police were also investigating whether there was a link with three bodies found at the Majola Tea Plantation near Port St Johns.
She said police were awaiting the results of DNA testing before making any links to the Umzinto killings.
On Friday police exhumed one of the bodies after it was mistakenly buried by a family thinking it was their daughter.
Police spokesperson Captain Mduduzi Godlwana said: "The body was mistakenly identified as that of 25-year-old Nomaneli Teno in February this year.
"Her family buried the body but later realised it wasn't their daughter after she came back from Cape Town later in February to let them know she was still alive," he said.
The kingpin of the group apparently hails from the Port St Johns area.
While police have officially only identified one of the dead women, it is believed that they know the identity of more.
The only person identified so far was 35-year old Nombali Ngcobo from Inanda.
Hechter said police were reluctant to make public the identities until DNA testing had been completed.
"You only have to look at that case (in Port St Johns) where they exhumed the body to understand why. The family identified her by her clothing."
Although police have also not officially disclosed the modus operandi, it is believed that the women were lured to Umzinto with the promise of employment and then possibly raped and murdered.
Hechter said the alleged kingpin - a 36-year old man - was co-operating with police.
She declined to elaborate on the relationship between the three people in custody.
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