PORT ELIZABETH – Port Elizabeth police in the Eastern Cape arrested a wanted suspect on Wednesday afternoon, for the rape and robbery of two students at Nelson Mandela University.

The arrest comes two days into protest action where students are demanding heightened security at all NMU campuses.

On Monday night, a 25-year-old student and her friend were violently attacked at the Second Avenue Campus in a computer lab. A man allegedly raped one of the students, stabbed the other with a scissors and robbed them of their cellphones and wallets.

The terrified women were then forced to take a computer and monitor, which they had to carry until they were outside the building. The attacker ordered the women to pass the loot to him before he jumped the gate and fled, police said at the time.

Police spokesperson, Colonel Priscilla Naidu, said a 29-year old man was arrested in Govan Mbeki Avenue at around 3pm on Wednesday afternoon.

The man was apparently trying to sell a computer that he allegedly stole during the horrific attack of the two women.

Naidu said the man was also found in possession of a student’s cellphone.

He was arrested by members of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, assisted by members from the police’s Flying Squad.

Naidu said that police had been working around the clock to trace the suspect and effect an arrest. He is expected to appear in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Friday on charges of rape and robbery.

African News Agency