Nine killed in Sydenham: suspect arrested nearly five years later
DURBAN — A man sought in connection with the killing of nine people in Sydenham in 2021 has been arrested nearly five years after the shootings and is due to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
KwaZulu-Natal police said detectives arrested the suspect on Wednesday night in Obuka, near Melmoth, where they believe he had been hiding. He is expected to face multiple counts of murder. Police have not disclosed his name or established a motive in the information released so far.
The killings took place on 16 October 2021. Six people were shot dead at a house in the Palmiet Road informal settlement. Three more people were killed nearby in two separate incidents on the same day. Police allege that the incidents involved the same suspects, a link that will have to be tested in court.
Investigators identified two suspects. According to police, one was later traced to Empangeni and fatally shot during a confrontation with officers. The arrest in Melmoth concerns the second suspect. It gives prosecutors an opportunity to bring the allegations arising from all nine deaths before a court, but an arrest does not establish his guilt.
The first appearance may clarify the precise charges and whether the accused intends to seek bail. It may also provide the first public account of how prosecutors say the three shooting scenes are connected. As of Friday afternoon, TownPress had not established the outcome of the scheduled appearance.
The arrest comes during another mass murder investigation in KwaZulu-Natal. The same provincial Murder and Robbery Unit is investigating the shooting of 11 people in the Ziko area of KwaMakhutha on Tuesday night. Police have announced no connection between that attack and the 2021 Sydenham killings.
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