Murder and rape accused in court
THE man suspected of raping and stabbing to death student Precious Ramabulana, 21, made his first appearance in a packed Morebeng Magistrate’s Court.
Aubrey Manaka, 28, was arrested last week after allegedly being found with the Capricon TVET College student’s phone, SIM card, the object used to stab her and bloodstained clothes.
He faces charges of murder, rape, housebreaking with the intent to commit rape and aggravated robbery.
Manaka abandoned his bid for bail, but has not pleaded to the charges yet. He will appear in court again on January 30.
Ramabulana, a final-year Business Management student, was raped and stabbed multiple times inside her rented room in Mokomene, Botlokwa, two weeks ago.
Her aunt, Rudzani Mashotha, 35, said her niece called her that night, crying.
“She said she was seeing the shadow of a hand protruding from the window of her room. She also said she could hear footsteps of a person doing ups and downs,” Mashotha said.
“I then told her that we must pray, which we did over the phone,” she said.
Mashotha added that after the prayer, Ramabulana then called one of her friends who was a neighbour, who then told her to come to her room.
“She responded by saying she could not leave her room because she did not know if the perpetrator was alone or with another person,” Mashotha added.
Scared and fearing for her life, Ramabulana then called her landlord, who was away in Joburg.
After several attempts at getting help had proven fruitless, “I then told her to call the police. I am not even sure if she had the number,” Mashotha said.
“Her phone then went off and I thought maybe it was due to the network because the weather was drizzling a bit outside.”
Confused and scared, the aunt then sought help from the Dzanani local police station, and she was instructed to call the Botlokwa local police station.
“The police said they would get back to me. At that time, it was around 3am,” she said.
“At 5.15am, the police got back to me and told me that Precious was no more.”