Durban – A 48-year-old man was arrested in the early hours of Thursday, 6 November 2025, after allegedly setting his 41-year-old girlfriend on fire in the Shanelweni Reserve area, within the Ngome policing precinct of KwaZulu-Natal.
According to provincial police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda, the victims were awakened at around 01:00 when the suspect entered the home. A 13-year-old girl, asleep alongside her 28-year-old sister, heard a noise at the door and “noticed that her mother’s boyfriend was hacking her sister with an axe”.
Netshiunda said: “The brave girl attempted to intervene, but the axe-wielding man stopped assaulting her sister and dragged her to the nearby bushes where he raped her, before releasing her just before dawn.”
#sapsKZN A swift response by #SAPS Vryheid #K9Unit and Hlobane police officers has led to the arrest of a 48yr-old man, a few moments after he allegedly burnt his 41yr-old girlfriend to death, and hacked her 28yr-old daughter with an axe before raping her 13yr-old daughter at… pic.twitter.com/N1qedXAVUZ
— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) November 6, 2025
In the meantime, the mother was asleep when the fire started. The spousal partner, after committing the violent attacks, allegedly went to her sleeping room and set it alight, causing her death by burning.
Police units from the Vryheid K9 section and Hlobane police station conducted an operation which led to the suspect’s arrest in the KwaMnyathi area later that morning.
The suspect has been charged with murder, attempted murder and rape, and is due to appear in the Louwsburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday, 7 November 2025. This tragic incident is a stark example of extreme gender-based violence in the province, and police continue to urge anyone with information to come forward.
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Compiled by Lisabeal Nqamqhele
