DNA test confirms Rasuge remains
2012-03-26 16:24
Johannesburg - A DNA test has confirmed that the human remains discovered at a house in Temba, outside Pretoria, are those of slain police Constable Francis Rasuge, Gauteng police said on Monday.
Lieutenant Colonel Katlego Mogale said the DNA was analysed by a forensic science laboratory.
Construction workers came across the bones while laying a foundation at the house of her murderer William Nkuna on March 20.
The police's K9 Unit and the forensic laboratory later uncovered several bones including a skull.
Rasuge went missing on August 27 2004. She was last seen alive with Nkuna outside a hairdressing salon in Temba.
During an interview with Radio 702 at the time, Nkuna claimed that he missed Rasuge and that he was not be sure whether she was alive.
Speculation on remains of Rasuge
Judge Ronald Hendricks sentenced Nkuna, in the Mmabatho Circuit Court sitting in Ga-Rankuwa, to life imprisonment in November 2005 even though her body had not been found.
At the time of Nkuna's trial, widespread appeals were made for him to reveal the whereabouts of Rasuge's remains.
Hundreds of spectators broke into cheers and song when they saw the sentencing on five television screens outside the court.
A few weeks after the sentence was handed down, David Cornelius, 35, who purported to be a friend of Nkuna, claimed he knew where Rasuge was buried and led police to a grave.
The body was exhumed, but turned out to be that of an older woman buried long before Rasuge's disappearance.
In 2007, the garage of Nkuna's house was dug up, to no avail, after a sangoma claimed to have had a vision which revealed that Rasuge's remains were buried underneath a garage at a private property.
It was one of more than 100 reports, based on dreams and visions, about the policewoman's whereabouts since she went missing, police said.
Police even used three search dogs at the property, none of which responded positively for human remains.
- SAPA
