South Africa’s most wanted fugitive, Mark Scott-Crossley on Wednesday was arrested after handing himself over to the police in Pretoria. According to Buzz SA, Scott-Crossley escaped after the police declared him wanted in connection with the attempted murder of one Silence Mabunda.
The 37-year-old victim, an employee at the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre was allegedly assaulted by the suspect at a shop in Hoedspruit while he was buying airtime there in December 2016. The suspect grabbed and smashed his cellphone, before driving over him in an apparent racist attack. After reporting the case to the police they initially thought it was a hit and run incident but after a thorough investigation, a case of attempted murder was opened against Mark Scott-Crossley.
Speaking after his arrest, Limpopo police spokesperson, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo, said the suspect will appear at the Hoedspruit Magistrate’s Court on Friday, January 20, 2017.
‘Mark Scott-Crossley will appear in the Hoedspruit Magistrate’s Court on Friday in connection with the attempted murder of Innocent Mabunda. The suspect is alleged to have knocked him over with his car in Hoedspruit. He then apparently reversed over Mabunda as well.’
Mark Scott-Crossley, who is not new to committing crimes, had been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment after he and two of his farm employees hurled a former farm worker into a lion enclave in 2005. But after appealing his life sentence at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, his murder conviction was set aside and changed to five years’ imprisonment.
He was, however, released on parole in August 2008.