Pretoria residents clean up notorious alley after woman raped, murdered

Residents in the west of Pretoria this week cleaned up a “dangerous” alleyway where an Elandspoort woman was raped and murdered earlier this month, reports Pretoria Moot Rekord.

The 52-year-old woman was found by pedestrians in the alleyway on April 10 clinging to life.

She died a few days later in hospital, according to Community Reaction Unit (CRU) Elandspoort division chairperson Joey Botes.

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“The attack happened probably somewhere between 13:00 and 14:00. Pedestrians found her at around 15:00.”

Shocked residents took matters into their own hands on Saturday and picked up litter and cut grass in the alleyway.

“It is not exactly clear how often these attacks happen, because the people tend not report them to the police.”

“Every once in a while, you would hear about attacks that happened here.”

CRU member Lourens de Beer, who came up with the plan to clean up the alleyway, described it as a success.

“I suggested that we clean up the area, especially after the woman was raped,” he said.

“It really is a danger to all pedestrians who use it.”

After the clean-up, locals painted a mural and left some flowers in the alleyway in honour of the woman.

Botes thanked everyone who was involved in the clean-up, especially Jan’s Garden Services in Danville who helped them cut the grass.

“They really helped us a lot with the grass cutting and without them, we would not have been able to do it,” she said.

Police could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.

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