Durban - Durban University of Technology (DUT) is mourning its second death within days after police found the body of a lecturer who had been assaulted at the Winterton residence at Steve Biko campus on Sunday.
Dr Euvette Taylor, 30, a registered homeopath, was employed at DUT’s Faculty of Health Sciences.
Alan Khan, the institution’s senior director of corporate affairs, said that details of his death were still unclear and police were investigating.
“The DUT has learnt with shock and sadness that Dr Euvette Taylor, who was a residence adviser in one of DUT’s student residences, sadly lost his life, reportedly last night,” he said.
Taylor’s death came just days after DUT student Mlungisi Madonsela was killed during a protest last week.
Students who stay in the Winterton residence said they were woken up by the sound of police sirens and lights at about 4am.
As news of Taylor’s death spread, so did the number of reasons for its cause.
Some students speculated that he was stabbed, while others thought that asphyxiation was to blame because a strong smell of gas that allegedly emanated from his room.
However, police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said: “A 30-year-old male was found dead in his room at the campus with assault wounds.
“A case of murder was opened at the Berea police station.
“His VW Amarok bakkie was found abandoned in Umlazi.”
In 2017, Taylor featured on the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans list.