Murder accused Flavio Hlabangwane appeared briefly at the South Gauteng High court today. Human remains were discovered in a fridge in his rented backroom in Protea, Soweto. It is alleged that Hlabangwane murdered his cousin, Tshepang Pitse whom he was in a romantic relationship with. Pitse's remains, a crashed skull, arms and legs were found in a fridge freezer, the rest of her body is yet to be found.

REST OF THE BODY PARTS YET TO BE FOUND

The remains were found by a woman who was also Hlabangwane's girlfriend in November 2021 in Protea Glen, Soweto. Hlabangwane told the police that he threw it in a river stream but continuous efforts by divers to retrieve it has yielded no results.
Reitumetsi Senawana from M. Mathipe  Incorporate Attorneys told Zimoja that the court was due to sit for pre-trial.
"However, there had to be a further postponement because there was an issue regarding the legal fees of the attorney and the advocate ,"he said. This is the second time the matter has has to be postponed because the accused cannot pay his legal team.

PROSECUTOR WANTS NO FURTHER DELAYS

Senawana added that the prosecutor said in order to avoid further postponements the matter will adjourn for two weeks.
"The prosecutor wants us to jump straight to the pre-trial and then the trial without any further delay. " He said the pre-trial will run on the 21 of October and if there are no other outstanding issues, the matter will go to trial. The trial is expected to start on the 16 January next year.
"The prosecutor said he will be adding further charges to the ones that the accused already has."

POLICE MUST TAKE ACTION

Gender activist and community developer Fikile Mazibuko from the Enough Movement said the law must be tougher on Gender-Based Violence as it is the only way to stop the scourge. "We also call on the police to stop ridiculing women who come and report these crimes at an early stage. If police take us seriously and do their job then most of the killings will be stopped before they can happen," said Mazibuko.