A manhunt has been launched for a suspect in the brutal murder of a 34-year-old woman in Needs Camp, outside East London.
Busisiwe Khonile’s body was found, with her jaw allegedly broken, in her home on Monday afternoon.
Eastern Cape police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Siphokazi Mawisa said Khonile and her boyfriend had gone to a drinking spot on Sunday afternoon.
“While they were still busy drinking the deceased and her boyfriend had an argument.
“Then the boyfriend [allegedly] started to hit the deceased and kicked her, but ultimately he stopped.
“They then left together to their place of residence — that’s when the deceased was last seen alive.”
According to a police report, a woman who had been drinking with the couple on Sunday visited Khonile’s home in G section on Monday.
Noticing the house was locked, she went to an outside toilet and called Khonile, but there was no response.
“When she opened the toilet door, she noticed blood on the floor. She then called the neighbours to check inside the house.
“One of the neighbours jumped through the window and checked inside and noticed the deceased lying on her back in the bed and alerted the police.
“The boyfriend was not in the house.”
Mawisa said the investigation was continuing.
A neighbour of the couple, Noma-Afrika Lamati, said: “[Another] neighbour came to me and my husband at our house.
“She said she suspected something bad had happened since she saw blood outside the communal pit toilets.
“She became suspicious and asked my husband to go with her to check on [Khonile’s] house.
“They decided to break the window, and they found Busisiwe’s lifeless, naked body on the bed.”
She said the murder suspect was known to the community.
“We believe the woman was murdered on Sunday night, but no-one heard anything.
“The horrible part is that the suspect is not from here and was here for work.”
• The Dispatch reported last week that Needs Camp residents accused the Buffalo City Metro of neglect after communal pit toilets built three decades ago became blocked and unusable.
Daily Dispatch
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