A 36-year-old man, believed to be the Kraaifontein serial paedophile, has been arrested.
Alleged Kraaifontein serial paedophile to appear in court
Cape Town police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut confirmed in a recent report that the man whose identity has yet to be revealed was tracked down and nabbed on Monday, at a location in Extension 3, Mfuleni.
According to Traut, he will appear before the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court, on Wednesday, facing five charges related to the sexual assault of a minor.
Parents of the children have vowed to protest outside the court building, calling for the suspect to be remanded in custody for the duration of the trial.
Does the State have a strong case?
At the time this article was published, court proceedings into the matter had not concluded. At the centre of the case is the amount of evidence at the State’s disposal thus far.
Police were brought onto the case on Sunday 12 April, on the same day parents of the five victims were informed of what the 36-year-old had allegedly done.
By then, the alleged serial paedophile had already run off into hiding. The shack that he allegedly used to lure the children — all of whom are eight years old — was destroyed, along with any trace of forensic evidence that he may have left.
The only binding piece of evidence the State will desperately need to tie the case is a forensic match in a semen sample, and that largely depends on whether he left any in the victims he allegedly raped.
There are also the accounts of the victims who have all identified the man as the person who allegedly lured them into a shack on Masondo Street, Wallacedene, between Saturday, 2 April 2021 and Sunday, 11 April 2021, and raped them.
How the State will approach this case remains to be seen. At this time, the 36-year-old has remained in custody pending the outcome of his bail bid.