Legendary ‘manhunter’ dies
VETERAN former police detective Piet Byleveld has died after succumbing to lung cancer in a Johannesburg hospital. He was 67.
Tributes and messages of condolences to his family are being shared on his Facebook wall.
Byleveld‚ dubbed the “manhunter”‚ was regarded as the country’s top detective for his track record of apprehending some of the worst criminals in South Africa.
The chain smoker, who operated on Grandpa powders mixed with Coke‚ brought notorious serial killers to book‚ including three of the worst that South Africa has ever seen.
Cedric Maake‚ the Wemmer Pan killer also known as the Hammer Killer‚ raped 14 women and murdered 27 between 1996 and 1997.
His victims, of both sexes, ranged in age from 15 to 74. Convicted in 2000‚ Maake was handed a 1 340 year prison sentence for his reign of terror in southern Johannesburg.
Mine dump serial child killer Sipho Dube Mhlangathi was caught in 2004.
He became Byleveld’s first escapee‚ after walking out of the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court wearing clothes Byleveld had lent him for the trial.
He was eventually discovered hiding out in prison under a false name‚ and on a different charge.
Mhlangathi‚ who used to drink a beer concoction containing battery acid‚ received 10 life sentences and 114 years in jail.
Byleveld’s skill also led to the arrest of the Nasrec killer, Lazarus Mazingane, who was sentenced to 17 life terms and more than 700 years in prison for 16 murders and 22 rapes for crimes committed between 1993 and 1998. The renowned investigator famously also solved the kidnap and murder of Leigh Matthews‚ 21‚ who disappeared from Johannesburg’s Bond University campus.
Fellow student Donovan Moodley‚ who initially pleaded guilty but later recanted‚ was convicted in 2005.
He kidnapped and killed her before trying to extort money from her parents. He is serving a life sentence.
It was Byleveld’s high profile in the Matthews case that entranced another murderer.
Andrew Jordaan‚ then 25‚ had an obsessive interest in the case‚ keeping newspaper clippings and even photographs of Byleveld.
Once identified as a suspect in the kidnapping‚ rape and murder of seven-year-old Sheldean Human from Claremont‚ Pretoria‚ police brought in Byleveld.
Jordaan confessed to him‚ and pointed out where he had dumped the little girl’s body. Handed a life sentence‚ he was beaten to death in 2012 by a fellow inmate at Leeuwkop Prison‚ allegedly over the outcome of a soccer match.
Byleveld retired from the South African Police Service in 2010 after 38 years of service.