An Elsies River mom is dead after allegedly being beaten to death by skollies who accused her of stealing their gun.
The 34-year-old was with her toddler at the time of the attack.
The suspects then took her to hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.
A community member, who did not want to be named, says the incident has left everyone on edge.
The woman reveals: “She was a drug user and it must have been easy to finger her about this.
“Three of the local gangsters attacked her in her house, killing her and then took her to the day hospital after she was already dead.
“It is believed that they killed her because they thought that she had a firearm which belonged to their gang. She did not have any firearms. I heard the gun was later found somewhere else. So she was wrongly accused.”
“I don’t know what method they used to kill her, whether she was beaten to death. Her child was in the house when all of this happened.”
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk said the circumstances surrounding the death of a 34-year-old woman are under investigation.
He confirms: “Elsies River SAPS registered a murder case.
“According to reports, members attended to a complaint of a sudden death at a local hospital on Thursday at about 9.15pm.
“On arrival they were shown the body of the deceased with several wounds to the face.
“The suspects are currently unknown. The motive for this incident forms part of a police investigation.”
The woman says everyone, including the victim’s family, is bang to speak up.
The anonymous woman says: “This is very sad because everyone has been left scared, no one wants to talk about this because we are scared that the gangsters might come for us too if they could kill a woman like that.
“We can’t stand up against these gangsters because of what they could do to us too.
“The entire area is a red zone, it seems like no one is safe even the police, because we don’t see them patrolling, we don’t know if they are scared.
“Things like this happen all the time, too many shootings but no one gives a s***. We need the police to be proactive and not reactionary.”
Van Wyk has made an appeal to anyone who can shed light on the circumstances of this incident to please call Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or by using the mobile application MySAPS anonymously.
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za