BLOEMFONTEIN – The Provincial Tracking Team’s continued efforts have resulted in the arrest of a Lesotho national wanted in connection with three cases that occurred in the Bloemspruit area in 2016 and 2019, respectively. The alleged fugitive Thabo Tauhali (38) arrest last Thursday, (15 October) followed a decade-long search.
Lt-Col Thabo Covane, provincial spokesperson for the police, Tauhali faces charges of attempted murder, house robbery and murder as well as additional charge of contravening the Immigration Act, for being in South Africa illegally. He is due to appear before the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court soon.
Covane said a warrant of arrest had been issued during the search for Tuahali for all the cases. The attempted murder case took place on 8 July 2016, followed by house robbery and murder cases on 14 December 2019. He said cases were registered at Bloemspruit Police Station for investigations.
Covane said the attempted murder occurred at a plot situated along Old Thaba Nchu Road, where Tauhali allegedly attacked one of two friends while seated around a fire. “He allegedly picked up a brazier with red-hot coals and threw it into the face of the male victim and thereafter threw a stone at the victim,” said Covane.
Covane said the house robbery and murder incidents took place in Shannon. They involved an attack on an elderly couple including private security officers, who had responded to an alarm at the couple’s property. Covane said an investigation established that the assailants had forced entry into the couple’s house.
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“On arrival at the house, the security officers noticed a man standing over another person with an object in his hands. The suspect ran into the house as the officers gave chase. A second suspect charged at the officers with a homemade panga, resulting in a security officer opening fire in self-defence,” he said.
Covane said the Local Criminal Record Centre experts who attended the scene collected a hammer and a panga as evidence.
