Friday, 29 March, 2024
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Teens arrested for murder of UFS medical student

Two teenagers, aged 17 and 18, have been arrested in connnection with the murder of medical student Wiseman Mthunzi Zwane, who was stabbed multiple times and then dumped in a river in Mpumalanga this month.

The University of the Free State (UFS) student was on holiday visiting family at the time.

UFS spokesperson Lacea Loader said Zwabe was a final-year medical student at the institution and was part of the Nelson Mandela Fidel Castro Medical Programme. “He was completing his clinical training at Dihlabeng Hospital in Bethlehem. He lived in Elukwatini and was home for the holidays when he was killed. The university is very saddened by the news.”

Zwane’s sister Ncobile said her brother was a big dreamer and wanted to work hard to give his siblings a better life.

"He always saw the bigger picture; he always said he worked so we could do the things we wanted, so he could improve our situation at home, because our parents had died," she said.

The family said Wiseman disappeared shortly after being involved in an accident with two other relatives. She told News24 she was supposed to see her brother on 2 July, but he never arrived.

“He was just going to say goodbye because he had to return back to school on 7 July. But unfortunately, as they drove to my place, they had an accident.” According to a relative, when the paramedics and the police arrived at the scene, they only took Wiseman’s brother to the hospital and left Wiseman and his cousin behind.

“The cousin explained that he left Wiseman at the scene of the accident and tried to seek help from people around, but when he got back, Wiseman had disappeared.”

When he had not reappeared three days later, his sister went to the police station, but was told she could not open a case because she was not the last person to see him alive. They allegedly said she needed to return with the relative who was last seen with him.

On 6 July, she added, she received a tip-off about her brother's disappearance from an unknown person who “directed us to this field where we might find Wiseman”. They found his body floating in the river.

 

News24 article – 'Seeing him like that broke me' – sister describes anguish of finding murdered medical student's body (Open access)

 

See more from MedicalBrief archives:

 

Attacks on doctors highlight security dangers in state hospitals

 

Man stabbed 16 times in hospital emergency ward after road accident and dies 6 days later

 

Attacker of University of Free State female doctor committed

 

Community health clinic in Alex closed after stabbing

 

Doctors, nurses and paramedics are ‘soft targets’ for criminals

 

 

 

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