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Killer's 'accomplice' in court
09/10/2007 13:47 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The man accused of being an accomplice in the murders of ten women, whose decomposed bodies were found in sugar cane fields in KwaZulu-Natal, has appeared in an Eastern Cape court, police said on Tuesday.
Superintendent Leonie Verster, head of the province' organised crime unit, said the man accomplice appeared at the Libode Magistrate's Court on Monday on a charges of a double murder, a murder and an armed robbery.
She said the man's identity could not be revealed as yet but court officials named the accused as Zandisile Bhadla Somanikiniki, 28, who resides in the Majola, in the Port St Johns area.
The bodies of ten women have been found in the sugar cane fields surrounding Umzinto's Shayamoya township since the beginning of September.
Wanted for other cases
Police initially arrested five people, three women and two men, in connection with the sugar cane murders. Somanikiniki was one of those people.
Two suspects were later released and two men and a woman appeared in the Umzinto Magistrate's Court on charges of abduction and murder last week.
Somanikiniki appeared at the Libode court for armed robbery and the murder of Inspector Sithembiso Bavuma at the Libode police station on September 1 2006, Verster said.
He also appeared on a double murder charge for allegedly killing a man and his girlfriend in August 2006. Verster said the case was remanded until November 7.
Somanikiniki is wanted for two more cases in the Eastern Cape.
Verster said the man was also implicated in an armed robbery that took place in August 2006 and a murder warrant had been executed for him in a fourth case that took place in 2004.
"For the 2004 case, he will appear at the Umtata Supreme Court on 22 October," she said.
Police were transporting the accused to KwaZulu-Natal, where he is expected to appear at the Umzinto Magistrate's Court on Wednesday in connection with the sugar cane killings.
- SAPA
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