Jaen-Lee Pyne back in jail after body allegedly found at his former home

Police were tipped off, told to dig in the garden

Jaen-Lee Pyne, the man accused of killing one member of the Heidelberg CPF and seriously wounding another, was arrested on Thursday afternoon in connection with a body that police found in the garden of a house he used to rent.

Because the suspect has not yet appeared in court, Gauteng police spokesperson Col Mavela Masondo may not identify him, but he could confirm that an arrest had been made.

“Police can confirm that the suspect has been arrested after the body was discovered in a shallow grave in Heidelberg. The suspect was arrested in Heidelberg on Thursday and is expected to appear in the Heidelberg magistrate's court on Monday facing a charge of murder,” Masondo said on Thursday evening.

A source close to the investigation confirmed to TimesLIVE that Pyne was arrested as he walked into a police station on Thursday afternoon in compliance with his bail conditions. 

“Under his bail conditions he has to sign in every Monday and Thursday at the local police station. When he walked in this afternoon to sign the register he was rearrested and handcuffed. This time in connection with the body found in the house where he previously lived,” the source said. 

In July this year Pyne allegedly shot local CPF member Etienne du Preez and CPF chairperson Flip Minnaar. Du Preez was declared dead on the day, but Minnaar survived. After a short manhunt, Pyne handed himself over the police.

Though the court denied his bail application earlier, he tried again in the high court last Friday.

“He was successful and was released. The police and neither of the victims' families knew a bail application was going to happen,” a source close to the Minnaar family told TimesLIVE Premium.

On Tuesday TimesLIVE Premium revealed that police reacting to a tip-off had arrived just before 9am at a house in Heidelberg where Pyne formerly lived. It is understood that an informant close to Pyne had told the police to dig up the garden.

“They were told they would find a body there and they did exactly that within a few hours,” the Minnaar family friend, who asked not to be identified, told TimesLIVE on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Pyne was once again behind bars.

The NPA has not responded to several requests since last Friday for comment on Pyne's release on bail.

TimesLIVE