When police officers responded to a domestic disturbance call in the early hours of Sunday at an informal settlement in Tladi, they found a 34-year-old man raping his partner.
The woman, 30, was bleeding from stab wounds on her forehead and abdomen. Her lips, according to relatives, appeared to have been bitten off.
And when police pulled the man off the woman, they found she was dead.
A neighbour who alerted the police said she was shocked by what she had witnessed.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said the neighbour, who did not want to be named.
Relatives believe the quarrel was sparked by allegations that the woman had cheated on her partner.
That night, the neighbour said, she saw the man trying to break down the door of the man he believed was involved with the woman.
“He was swearing and threatening that he would kill everyone in the house, even the four-year-old child. The people inside had use a cupboard to prevent the door from being broken down.
“I was scared to leave my yard, I told my boy to call the police.”
The man gave up trying to force open the door and returned to his house, where he beat his partner.
“I heard the thuds as he was beating her,” said the neighbour.
People tried to pull the man away but he threw bricks at them.
When the police arrived, the woman was lying under a tree and the suspect was on top of her.
“He told the police to stand back and not to disturb him,” said the neighbour.
The woman’s sister, who arrived just after the police, was prevented from seeing her sister.
“I fought with the police because I wanted to see if it’s really her. They said she was badly hurt and that I won’t be able to recognise her,” she said.
The suspect was arrested. - The Star