'Jesus' killer still at large?
2005-12-08 08:44
Cape Town - For many farmworkers the mystery surrounding the so-called "Jesus" murderer in the Philippi area remains just that - a mystery.
While a man was arrested in connection with the murders last week, he was charged only with five rapes when he appeared briefly in Wynberg magistrate's court on Monday.
The state indicated it would not oppose bail at this stage, as more information for possible further charges still had to be gathered before he appeared in court again on 12 December.
Philippi residents aren't convinced the suspect is the murderer who has been terrorising the area for the past six months.
According to Abe Fransman, a community leader and organiser of a search team in the Egoli squatter camp, the suspect is "definitely someone else and not the murderer".
"We as a community know this isn't the right man," he said. According to him more than 50 farmworkers are still patrolling the area every night. At weekends up to about 50 groups are sent out in search of the man who calls himself "Jesus".
No attacks have, however, been reported in the area in the past three weeks, said Fransman.
But the question now appears to be whether the man whom police are "convinced" is the murderer and the so-called Jesus murderer may be two different people.
A relative of the arrested suspect told Die Burger earlier that the suspect was released from the Voorberg prison at Porterville where he'd served 10 years for murder in July this year.
According to many farmworkers the first murder was committed as early as May.