Family lash police inaction on Sunnyside man kidnapped then found dead
File picture: Pexels File picture: Pexels
Pretoria - The family of the petrol attendant who was kidnapped and later found dead in Eersterust late last year believe police could have saved his life.
According to the family, all police needed to do was to respond swiftly when the kidnapping case was opened.
Rendani Maphiri, 27 at the time of his death, was allegedly kidnapped from work in Sunnyside at 7am on October 8.
Yesterday, three men appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court, where charges against two were provisionally withdrawn pending investigations.
Willington Kochidza, facing murder and kidnapping charges, was remanded until April 7 for further investigation into his legal status in the country. He is expected to apply for bail during his next appearance. The Zimbabwean national will remain in police custody.
According to Maphiri’s ex-
colleague, the accused had showed up at the petrol station a month before the alleged kidnapping.
“I was on night shift with Rendani and the man showed up around 7pm and they had a chat for almost an hour and 30 minutes. The man left, and Rendani didn’t mention anything to me the whole night. The same man came again around 6am when it was almost knocking off time. They left together around 7am. They didn’t take the normal route home.
“The man had showed up before and just bought a drink and inspected the place,” he said.
Maphiri’s brother, Bright Maphiri, recalled receiving a call from Rendani saying he had been kidnapped and the kidnappers wanted a ransom of R5000, which the family paid.
“One of the men told us on the phone that they went around kidnapping people for money. He kept threatening that he was going to kill Rendani if we did not pay.”
The brother complained about the slow response from the police, saying the family felt let down. The family were also denied the opportunity to identify the body after he was found.
“We ended up hiring a private investigator who later told us that the guys had been arrested and they had dumped his body in Eersterust, near Mamelodi.
“We were not happy with how the police were treating the case; they were not giving it attention, hence the private investigator.
“We have been denied the opportunity to see his body; we have tried about four times, but we are not allowed. Now we hear that it has been moved to a different mortuary in Ga-Rankuwa. Police have really failed us,” he said.