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CORRECTION: SA man not a suspect in murder of his wife in Mozambique

The husband of Petro Prinsloo, who was killed in Mozambique last month, has not been arrested for orchestrating her murder.

News24 on Tuesday published information received from a source at the Mozambique Foreign Business Chamber who claimed that Faan Prinsloo was in custody after allegedly paying his "mistress" R25 000 to arrange the murder in Matola, where the couple lived.

According to the source, the "mistress" paid a Mozambican man to carry out the murder.

The source also said that Faan was working in Santa Maria, and not Matola, at the time of the murder.

According to the source, Faan had been denied bail and was in police custody in that country. The source said he had confirmed this with three police officials. 

This information appears to have been incorrect.

News24 spoke to Faan Prinsloo on Tuesday morning. He confirmed that he had not been arrested. Prinsloo is currently in South Africa.

"How can you be speaking to me if I am in prison?" he said.

Elna Lewis, Petro Prinsloo's sister, also confirmed that Faan Prinsloo was in South Africa and was not being detained by the Mozambican police.

"Faan is not in jail," Lewis said. "Faan was never a suspect."

The Middelburg Observer on Tuesday also reported that Prinsloo was not a suspect. 

Lewis said the female suspect, who was arrested with her male accomplice within hours of the murder, was Faan Prinsloo's business partner, and not his mistress.

According to Lewis, the female suspect tried to frame Faan for the murder of his wife in order to take over his business.

CCTV cameras disabled

On October 10, the Lowvelder reported that the two suspects had confessed to the murder on national television.

According to the publication, the female suspect claimed she had had an affair with Faan Prinsloo and had ordered the murder of Petro to save him from a costly divorce.

Lewis told News24 that Faan Prinsloo had not been working away from home, as reported earlier.

"He was in Matola, not in Santa Maria. He sent a worker to his house to fetch something and Petro's body was discovered."

The suspects were arrested within hours of the discovery.

Lewis said police became suspicious when they discovered that the female suspect had cut the electricity to the house, thus disabling CCTV cameras.

Lewis said the female suspect had used the housekeeper's phone to make contact with the male suspect.

The housekeeper was sent away by the female suspect to buy bread.  

The male suspect then allegedly murdered Petro by hitting her head against the floor. 

The two suspects remain in custody. 

News24 regrets the error and apologises for publishing incorrect information earlier. 

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