‘Her face was just like a horror movie’
The discovery of a woman’s body stuffed into a bin is being called the “worst crime of passion” ever witnessed in Milnerton.
|||Cape Town - She was found wrapped in a thick blue blanket, a piece of vinyl covering the part of her head where her face had once been. The grim discovery of the body of a woman stuffed head-first into a wheelie bin, which was then dumped into a ditch opposite a playground, is being called the “worst crime of passion” ever witnessed in Milnerton.
Witnesses said it appeared as though her killer took his time binding her hands with cables and wrapping a leopard print scarf around the gash in her neck where he had apparently tried to sever her head.
A witness spotted the suspected killer fleeing the scene after he dumped his grim load in Taurus street in Phoenix on Monday.
The eyewitness inspected the bin, finding the victim’s brown handbag dumped along with her body, her face “red with fresh blood”.
The witness told the Cape Argus it was one of the worst things he had ever seen.
The skin of the woman’s face had been peeled off, exposing the muscles and tendons. “Her whole face was cut off. There were no lips, no teeth. I saw the arm and it looked like a coloured lady.”
Another witness, who asked not to be named, said: “You could see the muscles of her jaw jutting out. We could not see her eyes, we could not see her forehead or anything. Her whole face was just like a horror movie.”
“What is clear to me is that the killer took his time,” she said. The dead woman apparently also had a tattoo on one hand and on her right arm.
The resident who made the discovery was on his way to the shop before 9am on Monday when he spotted a short, elderly man standing by the dumping site, close to the bin. It was only when the man fled the scene that he grew suspicious and alerted his neighbours in Cancer Street.
The witness said: “His bags were standing close by, he had a black bag and a green bag. He took his two bags and started walking in the direction of Joe Slovo (informal settlement).”
The woman’s identity remained a mystery on Tuesday, but police said DNA tests would be conducted to try to uncover any lead that might help them with their investigation.
Police spokesman Andre Traut said a case of murder was being investigated but the motive had yet to be established.
No arrests had been made.
“We make an appeal to the public to come forward with information that can assist with our investigation. Crime Stop can be contacted on 08600 10111,” he said.
Mother of twins, Nicolette Rosiger, said the ditch opposite the park had been a popular dumping site for years and had been raised as a concern by residents for health and safety reasons “many times before”.
“What is clear is that the murder didn’t take place here,” Rosiger told the Cape Argus. “It could have happened somewhere else but her body was dumped here.
“This place is regularly used for dumping. A man’s body has been found here, as were a foetus and a fully-grown baby last month.The children even get sores when they play here, it is terrible.
“I have nine-year-old twins who have sores all over their body – big, ugly sores – and I do tell them to stop playing there, but they do not want to listen.”
gadeeja.abbas@inl.co.za
Cape Argus