Former top SA detective Piet Byleveld dies at 67
VETERAN former police detective Piet Byleveld has died in Johannesburg, a senior police source, who asked not to be named, confirmed yesterday.
Byleveld‚ dubbed the “man hunter”‚ was regarded as the country’s top detective for his track record of apprehending some of South Africa’s worst criminals.
He succumbed to lung cancer at the Life Wilgeheuwel Hospital in Roodepoort.
Byleveld‚ 67‚ a chain smoker who operated on Grandpa powders mixed with Coke‚ brought a number of notorious serial killers to book‚ including three of the worst South Africans have ever seen.
Cedric Maake‚ the Wemmer Pan killer also known as the Hammer killer‚ raped 14 people and murdered 27 between 1996 and 1997.
Convicted in 2000‚ he was served a 1 340-year prison sentence for his reign of terror in southern Johannesburg.
Mine dump serial child killer Sipho Dube caught in 2004.
He escaped after walking out of Wynberg Magistrate’s Court wearing clothes Byleveld had lent him for the trial, but was eventually discovered hiding in prison under a false name on a different charge.
Mhlangathi received 10 life sentences and 114 years in jail.
Byleveld’s skill also led to arrest of the Nasrec killer.
Lazarus Mazingane was sentenced to 17 life terms and more than 700 years in prison for 16 murders and 22 rapes committed between 1993 and 1998. Mhlangathi was the
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 was convicted in 2005 and is serving a life sentence. He had kidnapped and killed her before trying to extort money from her parents.
It was Byleveld’s high profile in the Matthews case that entranced another murderer.Andrew Jordaan had an obsessive interest in the case‚ keeping newspaper clippings of Byleveld as the detective in the case.
Once Jordaan was identified as a suspect in the kidnapping‚ rape and murder of Sheldean Human, 7, from Claremont‚ Pretoria‚ police brought in Byleveld.
Jordaan confessed to him‚ and pointed out where he had dumped the little girl’s body. Served with a life sentence‚ he was beaten to death in 2012 by a fellow inmate.
Byleveld retired from the South African Police Service in 2010 after 38 years of service. — TMG