Murder suspect stoned, chopped
Tavern quarrel leads to brutality
A 27-year-old man is fighting for his life in hospital after he was stoned by a gang in an alleged revenge attack.
The man, who is facing a murder charge after he allegedly stabbed to death a notorious gang member in Putfontein, Ekurhuleni, was attacked last Sunday.
This was after he allegedly stabbed Wayne Mabaso, 25, to death following an altercation at a local tavern.
According to police, Mabaso’s fellow gang members went to the suspect’s house after they were informed that he had been killed.
They dragged the suspect out of his home, stoned him and beat him with sticks and shovels.
Police said a witness told them how she was traumatised after one of the gangsters tried to chop the man’s legs off with an axe to make sure he would never walk again.
Police spokesperson Justice Ramaube said terrified community members called the police after rescuing the suspect who was arrested and is under police guard in hospital.
The owner of a tavern where the incident happened, Victor Balazi, said last Saturday night a fight broke out between the murder suspect and members of a local gang.
Balazi said he intervened and broke up the fight between the two parties after an employee called him to help.
He said the man who allegedly killed Mabaso was provoked according to what his employees told him.
Mabaso and his group were allegedly assaulting and pouring alcohol on the suspect.
“I thought the fight had stopped until I heard the news from the police the next morning that someone had been killed a few streets down after we closed,” he said.
Mabaso’s sister Theresa said his family was still reeling from the shock of losing him so soon after his return from prison.
“His death has been a shock to us because he had just been released three months ago.”
She said the police told her that her brother had been stabbed three times.