Locals warned against alleged serial killer
This come after two bodies of unknown young women were found allegedly brutally murdered, raped and disremembered near the open space.
Members ANC embarked on a walk against crime and killing from Orlando West to the open space next to JMPD Dube Vocational on July 28.
This come after two bodies of unknown young women were found allegedly brutally murdered, raped and disremembered near the open space.
Through the march, residents were raising their frustrations over the violence that is currently occurring in the area.
According to unconfirmed reports by Dube community activist, Cheche Selepe, about 19 murders have been reported in the area in the past five year.
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The recent one is of an unknown woman who was allegedly raped and murdered while coming from Bara Hospital to fetch medication for her mentally disabled child on July 14.
“It is said that the body of the woman was found in a terrible condition as she was allegedly assaulted. It also said that the woman was residing in Meadowlands and was trying to cross from Nancefield Hostel to Dube.
“Her body was found with legs wide open and private parts covered with her jeans. It really breaks our hearts seeing that helpless woman are brutally killed like this and no one is doing anything about it,” Selepe said.
According to Thapelo Thagane from Eye Operations Intervention Unit, such cases are prevalent in the community and trends of the crime occurring at the open filed include murders from stabbings and robberies.
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“Our role is to capacitate, support and work closely with our local police as well as to assist them in investigating crimes happening in the area.
“For the recent killings at Dube, we have apprehended a few people who we believe might be suspects in this case and we have handed them over to the police for DNA tests to be conducted,” Thagane said.
He added that due to the trends of the killings, they believe that there might be a serial killer on the loose and urged residents to be extra vigilant.
“When it comes to this violence, the targets are students from the local college who are trying to pass through to the other side.
“We believe that we are the first line of defence for the community and we will work tirelessly to apprehend the killer.”
While members of the ANC were gathered for prayer at the crime scene, they also handed over a memorandum of grievance over the killings to SAPS and the JMPD.
The memorandum states that they call on the police to outline clear prevention measures to tackle the high crime in the community.
They are demanding an increase of sector cars that will patrol the community with an effort to limit crime.
In the memorandum, they further call for the deployment of more officers to deal with the shortage of staff at local police stations which will ensure a quick turnaround times and an official written report concerning reported and recorded cases.
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Wendy Makhoba of the ANC said the walk forms part of awareness campaign that seeks to get justice for residents who have lost their lives to crime.
“Crime is slowly entrenching itself in our lives and that can never be acceptable. Human life is so devalued these days and it is so easy for criminals to take a life. A human life has depleted to the lowest value, it is equivalent to the cheapest price of a cell phone, we are no longer our brothers keepers,” Makhoba said.
