Johannesburg - The owner of a Joburg restaurant was gunned down in a robbery on the M2 highway on Saturday afternoon.
Celia da Costa was travelling near Booysens with staff members when they were cornered by two cars. The attackers then shot her in the head, said police spokesman Lieutenant Kay Makhubela.
They then opened the boot of Da Costa’s car with a crowbar and fled with the contents. It was unclear what was taken.
The 49-year-old woman, who owned Rodizio Brazilian Restaurant, was taken to hospital, where she died.
Makhubela said he did not know how many staff members had been travelling with her but said they were unharmed.
Rodizio Brazilian Restaurant had a stand at the Lusito Land festival in the south of Joburg. At the time of publication, Naomi Contente, the spokeswoman for the Lusito Association, had not confirmed whether Da Costa was travelling from the festival when she was attacked.
Expressing their condolences over Da Costa’s death on the Lusito Land Festival Facebook page, the organisers wrote: “A beautiful life taken away too soon due to another senseless act of crime.”
The Portuguese-themed festival has been marred by several grim incidents in recent years, with police investigating the alleged rape of a 19-year-old woman near the toilets in 2013.
In 2011, a power outage stopped a Ferris wheel, stranding nine riders.
The festival is a fundraiser for the Lusito-Portuguese Association for the Mentally and Physically Challenged.
The Star