Tefo Tefo
A DANISH businessman arrested for allegedly surgically removing and freezing the genitals of 21 women will apply for bail on Monday next week in the Bloemfontein Magistrate Court.
Peter Frederiksen (63) was arrested two weeks ago after police made the gruesome discovery at his Bloemfontein house following a tip-off, allegedly by his wife from Lesotho.
The police also found surgical equipment and over 500 photos of the women he had allegedly performed the illegal surgeries on.
Frederiksen allegedly lured women, mostly from Lesotho, to his home before sedating and performing female circumcisions on them, keeping the severed parts as trophies.
Lesotho Mounted Police Service spokesperson, Senior Inspector Clifford Molefe, told the Lesotho Times’ sister paper, the Sunday Express, that Frederiksen’s 24-year-old estranged Mosotho wife who lives in Naledi, once reported a case of assault against him.
“I don’t want to comment on a case that is being handled by the South African Police Service because I don’t know the details. I can only report that Mr Frederiksen’s wife, who is a Mosotho, reported an aggravated assault case on 18 June 2015,” said Senior Inspector Molefe.
The wife had since abandoned the couple’s two children aged two and four and come to Maseru. The children were reportedly being cared for by social workers in Bloemfontein, where the couple lived.
Frederiksen, who operates a fireman business in Maseru, appeared before the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Monday this week charged with assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, possession and manufacture of child pornography, possession of human tissue and contravention of the South African Medicine Act.
According to South African media reports, he appeared via audio-visual link and did not physically appear in court. The presiding magistrate postponed the case to next week Monday for a formal bail application.
Frederiksen is also allegedly wanted in Denmark for illegal firearm transactions.
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Meanwhile, members of the African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) and the public demonstrated outside the court on Monday demanding that Frederiksen be denied bail.
The New Age quotes the ANCWL’s Motheo regional chairperson, Mapaseka Nkoane, saying they did not want the suspect to be granted bail because of overwhelming evidence against him.
“As women, we are angry, disappointed, even confused with the private parts of women found in the freezer and we want justice to be served,” Ms Nkoane said.
EyeWitness News reported on Tuesday that a woman who was allegedly victimized by Frederiksen had come forward following a police call.
