The family of a woman, who has been missing for two months, is still shocked after her body was discovered at her boyfriend's house stuffed in a ceiling. The victim's aunt, Nomvula Maya from Balfour in Mpumalanga is reeling in shock after the boyfriend had denied knowing her whereabouts. "On Friday, we went to see the boyfriend since we know him and asked him where was Nosipho was. He told us that they had an argument and she had left his place. He claimed that he last saw her in late August and after that she was not taking his calls or responding to his WhatsApp messages," she said.
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NOWHERE TO BE SEEN ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Maya said that the family last saw Nosipho Mthombeni on 26 August. "Nosipho was always on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. When we realised that she was no longer on WhatsApp or active on social media, we became worried. At first we thought maybe she needed to spend some time with her boyfriend like she normally did. We never thought that we would find her body stuffed in a ceiling. Prior to her disappearance, Nosipho had informed her siblings that the boyfriend was no longer eating her food and that they had fought because the boyfriend wanted to bring back his ex, the babymama, so that they could stay altogether as one family," she said. Maya said that the boyfriend has gone into hiding running away from the cops.
A STENCH OF A DECOMPOSED BODY
Mpumalanga SAPS confirmed Brigadier Selby Mohlala confirmed the incident.
"A decomposed body of a woman was found in a ceiling of a certain house on Tuesday morning in Balfour. According to the report, the police received a complaint of a bad stench coming from a house in the area of Balfour. On arrival police found a lady, who indicated that she had moved into the said house about a month ago to stay with the father of her child. The police began to check the house in order to determine where the stench was coming from. At first, the ceiling trapdoor did not show clearly what was inside, however the members proceeded to the next room and broke the ceiling where they made a discovery of a human body wrapped with some clothes," he said adding that, "Emergency services personnel were summoned to the scene but the body was in a decomposed state in such a way that the gender could not be determined at that the time. However, later ,through the shoes that the victim was wearing as well as the nail polish and other features, it was then determined that it is a female person."
THE MAN SAID IT WAS DEAD RATS
A murder case is being investigated by the police. On further questioning by police, the woman indicated that she too was concerned about the stench and even asked her partner but he said it was due to dead rats. When she was asked on the whereabouts of her companion, the lady indicated that she last saw him on Saturday when he indicated that he was going to make payments for some accounts and then vanished. The family is yet to identify the deceased. Meanwhile the Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has condemned the incident in the strongest possible terms. "This is really heartbreaking for a woman to be murdered and her body concealed like that. We strongly suspect that this is another Gender-Based-Violence incident but hope and trust that anyone behind this murder will feel the full might of the law" said Manamela.
