Three women, mother and son brutally murdered in Benoni in past week
Etwatwa SAPS acting station commander Lt Col Sibusiso Sikhonde has urged the community to work with the police to end the scourge of gender-based violence
Three women have been brutally murdered in Benoni recently – two were found hidden under their boyfriends’ beds and another was burnt beyond recognition. A couple was also found dead in a veld with multiple stabs wounds.
Bloody nose
One of the victims, Slindile Ndlovu, was allegedly killed by her partner.
The 29-year-old was found lifeless, wrapped in a blanket and hidden under a bed on June 13 in Mkgoba Extension 37, Putfontein.
According to neighbours, the couple, who lived together, were drinking in the early hours of Saturday morning and at around 2am an argument broke out.
The next morning, the boyfriend was seen alone and the landlord asked where Slindile was.
The boyfriend said that he had fought with her and she had run away earlier that morning.
The neighbours became suspicious when they saw the boyfriend alone the whole day on Saturday, as the lovers were always together.
Neighbours went into the couple’s room and made the gruesome discovery of Slindile’s body under the bed.
The boyfriend apparently ran away at that point.
According to Putfontein SAPS spokesperson Sergeant Raider Ubisi, police were notified at around 6.30pm and paramedics certified the woman dead on the scene.
There was bruising on her body and she had a bloody nose.
On June 14, the 27-year-old boyfriend’s whereabouts were traced to his hiding place in Gabon informal settlement, in Daveyton, where he was arrested.
Nobuhle Ndlovu, the deceased’s sister said that her sister stayed with her boyfriend and they did not know him very well.
“We never heard of their fights,” said Nobuhle.
She described Slindile as a people’s person, who was not violent at all.
“It came as a shock when we were told how she died; it feels so unreal.
“To think that I always read stories about women being killed by their boyfriends but never thought it would be someone close to me,”
“She has a 13-year-old daughter and we don’t know how to tell her about the way her mother died,” Nobuhle added.
She added she wants justice to prevail.
“I wish his bail could be denied, even though he will be living in peace, but it’s better if we don’t see him,” she said.
Slindile will be buried today (June 20) in Greytown, KwaZulu Natal.
The boyfriend made his first court appearance on June 17, in the Daveyton Magistrate’s Court, and the case was postponed to June 22.
Decomposed
On June 13, another woman, believed to be in her early 30’s, was found decomposed under her boyfriend’s bed in Maphupheni, in Etwatwa.
SAPS spokesperson Sgt Khensani Mathebula said according to neighbours it had been four weeks since they last saw her.
“When they asked the boyfriend about the her whereabouts, he told them stories that didn’t make sense,” said Mathebula.
“He would also disappear for a few days.
“He came back on June 13 and the neighbours forced him to open the house as there was a bad smell coming from the house, and that’s when they discovered her body.”
Mathebula said when the 40-year-old boyfriend tried to run away, community members chased after him and started assaulting him.
He was removed from the angry crowd by police.
Etwatwa SAPS acting station commander Lt Col Sibusiso Sikhonde has urged the community to work with the police to end the scourge of gender-based violence.
ALSO READ:
Help police identify decomposed body found in Putfontein
Dumped
Another woman’s body was found dumped in Mayfield Extension One, Putfontein, on June 19.
The woman is believed to be in her late 20’s.
SAPS spokesperson Sgt Raider Ubisi said the woman’s upper body was burnt beyond recognition but there were no ashes or fire next to her body.
“It is believed that she was murdered and burnt somewhere else and her body dumped in Mayfield,” said Ubisi. “The young woman was wearing a pink top and black Adidas pants.”
According to a resident who stays few houses away from where the body was found and who did not want to be named, the body was dumped in the early hours of the morning by someone in a car.
“I heard the car being driven in a very rough manner.
“My dog barked continuously and hours later I heard a person screaming outside.
“I rushed out and saw a body of a young woman lying lifeless on the street,” said the resident.
Stabbed
In other incident, on June 15, the bodies of a man and woman believed to be a mother and son, were found in a veld in Zesfontein, Putfontein.
Ubisi said the police found the two dead on the ground with multiple stab wounds to the upper body.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that both the deceased may have been murdered somewhere and then dumped in the veld,” he said.
They were declared dead by paramedics on scene.
The motive for the killings is unknown.
Putfontein SAPS station commander Lt Col Wellington Mathiane said that he condemns the brutal killing of women in the area in the strongest possible terms.
“The perpetrators of such crimes will be hunted down and brought to book soon,” he said.
Putfontein SAPS is appealing to anyone with information that may lead to arrests in these cases to contact 011 845 6315, Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or make use of the MySaps app.
ALSO READ:
