Police in Atlantis arrested the “Ice-cream Man,” a suspect in a string of rape cases. The Mitchells Plain, a 50-year-old suspect, is accused of terrorizing multiple towns for months.
His strategy, according to the police, was to attract young ladies into his pink and white ice-cream truck with the promise of a job before spiking their drinks and raping them. Police apprehended him on Friday and found him in his van with a victim, condoms, and drugs for date rape. The Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual Offenses Unit, according to the police, performed a tracing operation in Witsand on Friday.
Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi, a spokesperson for the police, said “The complainant pointed at a man in a vehicle, indicating that he was the suspect in a rape case. The police members then stopped the vehicle and apprehended the driver. The 50-year-old man was arrested and detained on a charge of rape.”
After being charged, the suspect will appear at the Atlantis Magistrate’s Court. A media statement that has been circulating since Friday reads: “The suspect lures young girls, through offering them jobs and once the woman is in the Kombi, he drives around with them, gives them drinks which are spiked and then rapes them.
On Friday at 12.45 pm, one of the victims recognized the suspect and pointed him out to the FCS members. The team pulled him over and found in his vehicle another victim (woman) from Delft and also date rape drugs and condoms. The 50-year-old is an Egyptian foreigner from Mitchells Plain.”
In October of last year, the culprit was suspected of preying on people in the Mfuleni region. At the time, a woman posted a warning on Facebook about the “Ice-cream Man” after her relative managed to escape his grasp.
“You see, the ice-cream van likes to be here in Mfuleni. If the man offers you a job working in the truck with him, don’t take it, walk away. Don’t even give him your phone number. This man once tried to kidnap my relative and said he had a job for her. The job would have required her to work in Mitchells Plain. She agreed and went with him. She said they never even reached Mitchells Plain, he went into the bushes with her, but she managed to escape unharmed. He had promised to pay her R1 700 per week, he lied. I am warning women to run when they see the man,” the post read.
The crime data for the first quarter of the 2021–2022 fiscal year was released by Minister of Police Bheki Cele last year. According to the figures, 10 006 persons were raped between April and June 2021. This translates to 109.9 rapes every day, which is worrisome. The crime data for the first quarter of the 2021–2022 fiscal year was released by Minister of Police Bheki Cele last year. According to the figures, 10 006 persons were raped between April and June 2021. This translates to 109.9 rapes every day, which is worrisome.
ALSO READ: Seven Alex Dudula Movement sentenced to 7 years in prison
