POLICE have been left scratching their heads trying to figure out how photos of a gruesome crime have been leaked and gone viral.
A man who allegedly mutilated his wife is expected back in the Benoni Magistrate's Court today, but pictures of his alleged crime went viral in Daveyton on the East Rand at the weekend.
The first picture received by Sowetan, from a contact in the area, showed a half-naked woman who had a deep wound to her abdomen.
The second picture depicted a torso with no head, and shortly afterwards a picture of a head lying on the floor completed the series of photographs.
These were pictures of Phumeza Modikane, who was allegedly killed and decapitated by her husband.
"In South Africa there is no law on governing cyber matters," Gauteng police spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Katlego Mogale said.
She said the police would have to investigate and find the source of the pictures.
Police officers from Daveyton and Putfontein said only police would have had access to the crime scene and expressed doubt that Phumeza 's children - a 14-year-old boy and two girls aged four and 10 - would have taken such pictures of their mother.
The images emerged shortly after Stanley Modikane appeared in court on a charge of murder last week Wednesday.
Phumeza was murdered on Monday night and her body was discovered by police. Her husband was allegedly caught digging a shallow grave just outside his house to bury the torso.
It is alleged that he had instructed his children to keep their mother's death a secret because her head would "bring riches" to their home and he would find them a new mother.
His children are said to have found him talking to their mother's head in the bathroom.
The 14-year-old escaped and alerted police officers.
- An attorney and a cyber forensic expert said circulating pictures of a murder scene was a crime and police should take the matter seriously.
Sizwe Snail, an attorney in cyber matters, said he conferred with a colleague and cyber forensic investigator and former police officer Danny Myburgh, and both agreed that publishing or circulating of the pictures would be an obstruction of justice or crimen injuria at the least.
"If the person was alive I would have also said crimen injuria if it was pictures of a rape or other horrendous crime to bodily integrity," Snail said.
"It is also an act of misconduct, punishable with dismissal from the SAPS, to leak pictures of an investigation to the public or to the media."
Photos of hacked wife leaked
POLICE have been left scratching their heads trying to figure out how photos of a gruesome crime have been leaked and gone viral.
A man who allegedly mutilated his wife is expected back in the Benoni Magistrate's Court today, but pictures of his alleged crime went viral in Daveyton on the East Rand at the weekend.
The first picture received by Sowetan, from a contact in the area, showed a half-naked woman who had a deep wound to her abdomen.
The second picture depicted a torso with no head, and shortly afterwards a picture of a head lying on the floor completed the series of photographs.
These were pictures of Phumeza Modikane, who was allegedly killed and decapitated by her husband.
"In South Africa there is no law on governing cyber matters," Gauteng police spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Katlego Mogale said.
She said the police would have to investigate and find the source of the pictures.
Police officers from Daveyton and Putfontein said only police would have had access to the crime scene and expressed doubt that Phumeza 's children - a 14-year-old boy and two girls aged four and 10 - would have taken such pictures of their mother.
The images emerged shortly after Stanley Modikane appeared in court on a charge of murder last week Wednesday.
Phumeza was murdered on Monday night and her body was discovered by police. Her husband was allegedly caught digging a shallow grave just outside his house to bury the torso.
It is alleged that he had instructed his children to keep their mother's death a secret because her head would "bring riches" to their home and he would find them a new mother.
His children are said to have found him talking to their mother's head in the bathroom.
The 14-year-old escaped and alerted police officers.
Sizwe Snail, an attorney in cyber matters, said he conferred with a colleague and cyber forensic investigator and former police officer Danny Myburgh, and both agreed that publishing or circulating of the pictures would be an obstruction of justice or crimen injuria at the least.
"If the person was alive I would have also said crimen injuria if it was pictures of a rape or other horrendous crime to bodily integrity," Snail said.
"It is also an act of misconduct, punishable with dismissal from the SAPS, to leak pictures of an investigation to the public or to the media."
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos