Durban - Links between Durban’s dark underworld of drugs and violence and upmarket
suburbia emerged this week with the horrifying murder of 23-year-old Jessica Weyers, whose body was discovered on a sports field in Inanda.
Both her hands had been cut off and there were stab wounds to her neck. Who she was remained a mystery, with social media users trying to identify the young woman since her body was found on Monday morning. And then it came to light that Weyers was a sex worker and linked to the hugely publicised Siam Lee case.
Siam Lee was 20 when she was abducted from a brothel in Durban North in January 2018, and her beaten and burned body was found a week later in a sugar cane field.
Mike Myers, chief executive officer of rapid response app Mobi-Claw, said yesterday that he had met Weyers, who he nicknamed Jane to protect her identity during the Siam Lee investigation, in the Point red light district “when we were investigating the Siam Lee abduction”.
Weyers assisted with information relating to the Lee case, he said.
“She truly engaged with us. What I respected about her was that she was not ashamed of being a sex worker and that she knew the danger of the world she lived in.
“She also tried to stop other young girls getting into the business.
“We’d built a relationship with Jane and the information she gave us exposed a lot more of the dark underworld of Durban.
“It’s not limited to the Point area; it extends to our suburbs.
“There are drug dealers supplying middle-aged people in upmarket suburbs from Ballito to Westville. The dealers have runners who bring that criminal element into the suburbs; that’s the reality,” said Myers.
He said young girls were lured into the world of prostitution through drugs.
“It starts with drugs. She becomes addicted. The next stage is she owes money for the drugs, at which point she’s introduced to a pimp. She then gets stuck in that world,” said Myers.
He said he was not involved in the investigation into Weyers’ murder, but was saddened to learn of her death and sent condolences to the family.
Weyers’ mother, Leanne Claassens, said she felt heartbroken over her daughter’s death.
“Jessica was a lovely, kind person. She was so sweet and we were very close; we were best friends.”
Claassens said she was aware her daughter was a sex worker and took drugs.
She also said she had collected Weyers’ two-month-old baby on Thursday and was now caring for the infant.
The last time she saw her daughter was for her birthday last week.
“Jessica came to see me last Tuesday for cupcakes; she always loved my cupcakes. The last time she was seen was on Sunday around 5pm when her boyfriend said he had dropped her off to see someone. I don’t know what happened after that.
“He did not tell me she was missing until late on Monday afternoon. I kept trying to phone her, but it went to voicemail.
“I was contacted on Wednesday about a body being found and went to the morgue on Thursday.
“I saw it was her. Both her hands had been cut off and there was a big hole in her neck where she had been stabbed. She had been raped as well.
“It was terrible, terrible,” said Claassens, who was extremely distressed regarding her daughter’s missing hands.
“They (police) can’t find her hands; they are still missing.
“I lost my son, Peter, two years ago and now I have lost my daughter,” she said. Her husband, the father of Jessica and Peter, died of a stroke in 2008.
The Siam Lee case resulted in an intense police investigation when she went missing and her charred body was subsequently found.
On the day of her disappearance in January 2018, Lee had left a Durban North house, believed to be a brothel, in a black SUV and in the company of businessman Philani Ntuli.
Ntuli was later arrested for her murder and during appearances prior to the trial, the court heard that he had allegedly held her captive in his Hillcrest home before driving out to New Hanover, where he doused her in petrol and set her alight.
She died at the scene.
Ntuli died of cancer in June 2018 before the trial into Lee’s death started.
Yesterday, SAPS spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said Inanda police were investigating Weyers’ murder. “No arrest has been made at this stage,” she said.
The Independent on Saturday