Bloemfontein - A man was killed during a robbery in the Bloemfontein CBD on Tuesday, Free State police said.
“The man, 20, was walking with a friend on Fontein Street when they were approached by two unknown men who demanded their cellphones,” Captain Chaka Marope said.
When the friends refused to hand over their cellphones during the 5.30am robbery, they were assaulted with knobkerries.
“The deceased was stabbed in the head and stomach. His friend managed to escape,” Marope said.
No arrests had been made.
In a separate incident, three men attacked and critically injured a 23-year-old man on Floreat Avenue, near where the first attack took place.
He was beaten with paving bricks lying in the area. He was taken to Pelonomi Provincial Hospital.
One man, aged 25, had been arrested, but the other two were still at large. Police could not confirm whether the man was the victim of a robbery.
The 25-year-old was expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court on Thursday on a charge of attempted murder.
Earlier, ER24 spokesman Christo Venter said paramedics had found three men with stab wounds in the area. Two were found in Charlotte Maxeke Street and one in Elizabeth Street. The streets are all near where the first two attacks took place.
The three were also taken to the Pelonomi Provincial Hospital. - Sapa