Three held for attack on couple
TWO sisters and a taxi driver have been arrested for allegedly robbing a wheelchair-bound couple outside their flat earlier this month.
Taxi driver Akhona Salem, 25, together with sisters, Akhona Dingela, 30, and Onesimus, 20, appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where they were charged with robbery and assault.
All three will remain in custody until their next court appearance.
Salem claims to be a taxi driver and to not know the sisters – despite CCTV footage showing all of them walking together.
Johan Steyn, 47, and his partner Susan Henning, 46 – both wheelchair-bound – were ambushed by two women and a man in broad daylight at the Cape Recife High School at 5.30pm about two weeks ago.
The couple are often seen riding around Summerstrand and the beachfront in their motorised wheelchairs.
Yesterday, police said the three were identified after CCTV images – from cameras at the school – went viral on social media.
Police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu said the CCTV image which was publicised in the media assisted with the probe.
“Last week, information was received from a person who recognised the man in the circulating CCTV images,” she said.
“The tip-off led police to a house in Motherwell, where Salem lived with his mother.
“Police surveyed the house for days but Salem failed to return. At one stage he phoned the detective and said he would hand himself over but then failed to pitch.
“Subsequently, police went to his house several times but he went into hiding.
“On Tuesday morning, police went to Salem’s house shortly after midnight and arrested him.
“Shortly afterwards, the sisters were arrested at their homes – also in Motherwell.”
Steyn and Henning work at Nelson Mandela University and live in a flat on the school grounds – across the road from the campus. They were attacked outside their flat shortly after arriving home.
The three suspects are due to reappear in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on November 24 for a bail application.