Community members in Uitenhage have apprehended a suspect for his alleged involvement in a business robbery, but were taken to task by the police for taking the law into their own hands.
Police spokesperson, Captain Gerda Swart, says the man was caught by community members who chased after four men who had robbed a shop in the Moeggesukkel informal settlment.
She says the suspect had fallen and was overpowered by the group who allegedly beat him up before police arrived.
The other three managed to get away.
Swart says that 35-year-old will appear in court on Wednesday.
Police have routinely warned communities not to take the law into the own hands.
Meanwhile a man accused of attempting to steal a car was burnt to death in Freedom Park near Rustenburg, North West police said on Monday.
Lieutenant Colonel Pelonomi Makau said a mob attacked two men on Sunday, after they were alleged to have tried to steal a car at Phase 1, Freedom Park.
The car owner and community members allegedly doused the pair with petrol and set them alight.
“The police were called to the scene and found that one of the men was dead while the other was taken to hospital for medical treatment,” she said.
The car owner, aged 44 was arrested when he went to the police in Phokeng to open a malicious damage to property case later on Sunday.
He was expected to appear in the Bafokeng Magistrate’s Court in Tlhabane on Tuesday, facing a charge of murder and attempted murder.
