A resident of Paul Kruger Street in Sedgefield’s normally quiet Island suburb was found murdered on Monday night. SAPS have since identified the victim as Peter Henson. His body was discovered by a member of Community Orientated Policing (COP).
The COP member had been returning home from another call-out when he saw Henson’s dog running around on the streets. Having previously been to Henson’s house, he recognised the animal so picked it up to return it to its owner. He was concerned as Henson was known by various security organisations as being ‘high risk’ due to his ‘open door’ policy when it came to giving visitors access to his home, day and night.
On entering the property at approximately 22H00 the COP member found the house open with no sign of forced entry. The body of the victim was lying on the floor. The 76-year-old man’s hands had been tied behind his back and a gag cloth in his mouth was held in place with the same rope.
SAPS were alerted as well as other members of COP and the local neighbourhood watch. According to SAPS, preliminary investigations revealed that the perpetrators had fled with a number of Henson’s personal belongings, which included a DSTV decoder, a knife and his personal diary.
Further investigation yielded positive results when two suspects were arrested within hours of the crime being committed.
Information received led SAPS detectives to a residence in Smutsville, where they recovered the stolen items and subsequently arrested two men in their late-twenties.
The suspects are scheduled to appear in the Knysna Magistrates’ court later this week, facing charges of both murder and theft. An autopsy will be performed on the body of the deceased to determine the cause of death.
