THREE Botlokwa villagers, including a teenage girl, have been arrested after two men accused of murder and housebreaking were severely assaulted.
The two burglars were beaten up on Wednesday night after a villager mobilised residents of Mangata village following a housebreaking incident in which an elderly man was assaulted and left unconscious on Sunday. He subsequently died of the injuries.
The old man lived with the villager who allegedly organised the attack on the alleged robbers.
Some of the goods belonging to the elderly man and his tenant were allegedly found in the possession of the suspected burglars.
The tenant apparently rallied villagers around to hunt down the suspects after more housebreaking incidents were reported in the area.
Two of the suspects were caught by the community in the village and severely beaten up.
They were eventually rescued from the mob by police.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Ronel Otto said two of the three people arrested in connection with the attack on the suspected murdered were women.
"We arrested a 42-year-old woman, a 16-year-old girl and a 39-year-old man in connection with the vigilante attack," Otto said.
She said the two women were released on warning and their case was postponed to December 29, while the man was remanded.
Otto said a postmortem to determine the cause of the elderly man's death would be held in Polokwane today.
V igilantes held in B otlokwa
THREE Botlokwa villagers, including a teenage girl, have been arrested after two men accused of murder and housebreaking were severely assaulted.
The two burglars were beaten up on Wednesday night after a villager mobilised residents of Mangata village following a housebreaking incident in which an elderly man was assaulted and left unconscious on Sunday. He subsequently died of the injuries.
The old man lived with the villager who allegedly organised the attack on the alleged robbers.
Some of the goods belonging to the elderly man and his tenant were allegedly found in the possession of the suspected burglars.
The tenant apparently rallied villagers around to hunt down the suspects after more housebreaking incidents were reported in the area.
Two of the suspects were caught by the community in the village and severely beaten up.
They were eventually rescued from the mob by police.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Ronel Otto said two of the three people arrested in connection with the attack on the suspected murdered were women.
"We arrested a 42-year-old woman, a 16-year-old girl and a 39-year-old man in connection with the vigilante attack," Otto said.
She said the two women were released on warning and their case was postponed to December 29, while the man was remanded.
Otto said a postmortem to determine the cause of the elderly man's death would be held in Polokwane today.