Media Statement from the KwaZulu Natal Media Centre

Corporate Communication

South African Police Service

18 January 2014

After an exhaustive investigation by Inanda police a 25-year-old man was arrested for six counts of murder on Friday, 17 January 2014. The suspect was arrested when he visited his family at Matatiele. Police had launched a manhunt for him after it was alleged that he murdered six members of the Leneha family at Inanda during 2012.

On 29 December 2012 a 38-year-old woman and her five children aged between two and fourteen were stabbed and chopped to death at Mzinyathi in Inanda. Police had been monitoring his movements for more than a year as he fled the country immediately after the murders. Members from Crime Intelligence were able to detect his presence when he returned to the country to visit relatives in Matatiele. It is alleged that he robbed the Leneha family who are his relatives and killed them to cover up the robbery. He will be charged for murder and will appear in Ntuzuma Magistrates Court on Monday, 20 January 2014.

The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni congratulated Inanda Detectives for the breakthrough but expressed her disappointment over the killing of the six family members, saying that the incident raised serious questions around the collapse of morals and the lack of respect for life in our society. "I am glad that this ruthless murderer will be facing the full might of law and get what he deserves. This arrest once again confirms my belief that you cannot run forever from the long arm of the law," she said.

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Media Enquiries:

Colonel Jay Naicker

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KwaZulu-Natal: Media Centre

South African Police Service

Corporate Communication

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