Wife of Danish genital mutilation suspect killed in Lesotho
MASERU (LESOTHO) (AFP) -
The wife of a Danish man who was caught in South Africa last month with 21 pieces of female genitalia in his freezer has been killed in Lesotho, police said Thursday.
The Lesotho national and a key witness in the case against her husband, was shot on Tuesday outside her home in the capital Maseru.
Her 58-year-old husband, who owned a gun shop, was arrested last month in the South African city of Bloemfontein, and is due to appear in court on November 4 to face charges of sexual assault.
He has been held in custody since his last court hearing earlier this month.
Anaesthetic drugs and surgical equipment were found in his house along with the female genitalia.
Lesotho police told AFP that she was gunned down as she went to call a taxi.
"We are not in a position to confirm or deny that [she] might have been killed in an organised hit as this would jeopardise our investigations,? Lesotho police spokesman Clifford Molefe said.
The accused Danish man allegedly sedated his victims before performing illegal operations, the South African police said in a statement in September.
Under South African law, alleged sex offenders cannot be named until they have entered a plea in court.
His wife was allegedly one of his victims, most of whom the police say came from Lesotho, a small mountainous kingdom surrounded by South Africa.
"We did offer her protection, but she refused," South African police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi told AFP.
"She was a key witness, but we still have other witnesses who will come forward."
No arrests have been made over her death.
The wife of the Danish man accused of cutting off women’s sexual organs and storing them in his freezer was to be the prosecution’s star witness but now she’s been shot and killed.
Just as South African police said that they had made a breakthrough in their investigation of Peter Frederiksen, a Danish man suspected to be behind a string of gruesome mutilations, the primary witness in the case was killed while waiting for a taxi.
The South African news site Netwerk24 reported that 28-year-old Anna Matsiliso Molise was shot near her home in the Lesotho capital of Maseru on Tuesday. Police have ruled out a robbery as nothing was stolen.
"She died on Wednesday in Lesotho," South African police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi told AFP. "We did offer her protection, but she refused. She was a key witness, but we still have other witnesses who will come forward."
The South African news site News24 reported that Molise was shot four times.
"It is suspected to be a hit," spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi told the site.
Molise was in the process of divorcing Frederiksen and was the one who initially put police on his trail.
Molise was also reportedly a victim of Frederiksen’s genital mutilation and told police in mid-September that she had been drugged and attacked while unable to defend herself.
Investigators then found 21 pieces of genitalia in the Dane’s freezer along with surgical tools, anaesthetic and a trove of photos documenting the macabre acts.
Earlier this week, South African police hailed a “preliminary breakthrough” in the investigation, saying that officials had identified some of his victims, which include a seven-year-old girl. Investigators also belive that some of the genitals may come from Danish women.
Most of the victims however are believed to have come from Lesotho, a small mountainous kingdom surrounded by South Africa.
Frederiksen previously participated in a radio documentary for Danish public broadcaster DR in which he openly detailed performing genital mutilation on his African wife and her friends.
He reportedly fled from Denmark to South Africa to avoid weapons charges and opened a gun shop in the city of Bloemfontein.
Frederiksen has been held in police custody for nearly a month and will appear before a judge again on November 4th.
No arrests have been made in Molise's death.