In less than three months, another body of a woman was found raped and murdered in Van der Hoff Park.
On 4 June at about 07:30 a passerby discovered a body on the corner of Bizet and Beethoven streets and alerted the police.
The provincial police correspondent Sgt. Kelebogile Moiloa confirmed that a body of a woman was found. She seemed to be on her way to her workplace. She had a headwound and her pants were pulled down.
“At this stage no arrests have been made,” said Moiloa.
The murdered elderly woman was identified by her employer, Mr Nankie de Wet, as Ms Lydia Kgosikono (70).
“Why did they have to kill her? She was like family to us and Lydia was a very quiet, generous, God-fearing person who couldn’t hurt a fly,” said Nankie, who is still trying to come to terms with the murder. Lydia was a domestic assistant for the De Wet family for more than thirty years. She is originally from Taung and relocated to Potchefstroom with the family from Vaal Reefs.
According to Nankie, “I took Lydia to the taxirank every Sunday morning for her to attend church in Ikageng. She normally came home between 18:00-21:00, as she visited her friends after church.
It was on 3 June when we last saw her. We became worried when it started to get dark and she didn’t arrive for dinner.”
Mrs de Wet called Lydia’s cellphone but there was no answer, which was unlike her. “I then became suspicious and searched for her all over. I even went to the police stations, both in town and in Ikageng, the hospital and the mortuary but couldn’t find her. We couln’t believe the bad news we received from the police that our Lydia was found murdered in our own neighbourhood. Our home will never be the same without her. She brought up our kids, Nankie junior (30) and Lieze (28) who are also deeply shocked and hurt by the sudden murder of Lydia.”
When the Herald visited the Van der Hoff Park area, shocked community members responded that there was no police visibility in their area and they are now fearing for their lives and those of their workers.
The Herald of 23 March reported about the murder of a teenage school girl, Tsholofelo Simango (16) whose body was found decomposed and wrapped in a white sheet next to a footpath in Trim Park on 17 March. A Nigerian national was arrested for the alleged murder. The case will resume in court on 7 June.
As if that was not enough, another body of a teenage girl (19) was found murdered next to Kenneth McArthur stadium during that same week. The cause of death is still unknown but the body showed signs of strangulation.
No arrests have been made in the above mentioned murder case.