On Wednesday, Mpumalanga police said the key to a stolen vehicle by a gunman who covered his face with a mask during a house robbery in Bushbuckridge played an important role in the capture of a pastor suspected to have committed the crime.
The man of the cloth will come before the Bushbuckridge magistrate’s court after police discovered the key on him during his arrest on Tuesday.
“Preliminary investigations have revealed that a 48-year-old woman from College View in Bushbuckridge was preparing to go to work as well as getting her 13-year-old daughter ready for school when a man wearing a balaclava suddenly entered their house with a firearm and held them hostage. He tied up both of them with cable ties,” Brig Leonard Hlathi said in a statement.
“The man then robbed the family of their household items, including a plasma TV, car keys, a music system as well as other items, before driving off with the stolen items in the victim’s Toyota Avanza,” Hlathi added.
Police had an agreement with a car tracking company and made use of the car tracker to follow the route the stolen car had followed towards a house in Violet Bank.
“Items stolen during the robbery were found. They further got information that the items were allegedly left there by a man who is known in the area as a pastor [who was earlier seen] driving a Toyota Avanza,” Hlathi said.
“They found him in possession of the car key. Police searched his place and also found a toy gun, which they believe was the one used by the suspect to commit the house robbery,” said Hlathi.
