The 36-year-old man arrested in connection with the murder of four women, including Hillary Gardee, is due to make his first appearance at the Delmas magistrate’s court on Monday.

SowetanLIVE's sister publication TimesLIVE has learned the suspect was out on parole before his arrest.

“He was released in February after serving time for robbery,” said a police source with knowledge of the case.

The man was arrested on Thursday night during a sting operation in Kwa-Thema after the murder of a woman who had met him on Facebook. She had gone on a date with the suspect in Benoni.

She was found in a piece of veld near Delmas last Tuesday, with Sowetan reporting she had allegedly identified her attacker to police before her death in hospital the next day.

The suspect is also alleged to have killed two sisters in Kanyamazane, outside Mbombela, in May. He is expected to appear in court on Tuesday in relation to these murders. One of the women was his girlfriend and the other a police officer.

Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brig Selvy Mohlala confirmed the man will also be brought to court in connection with the Gardee murder, joining the other three accused in the case. Gardee was kidnapped on April 29 and found dead on a gravel road on May 3. She had been shot.

TimesLIVE