Bloemfontein - Employees at Botshabelo Industries made a gruesome discovery on their way to work on Saturday morning when they came across the bodies of two teenage girls in Botshabelo near Bloemfontein, Free State police said.
On arrival at the scene the police found two half-naked bodies not far from each other in an open field between K-section and the industrial area in Botshabelo, Colonel Thandi Mbambo said.
"Both deceased, aged 16 and 18, had multiple stab wounds to the upper body and the position they were found in indicates that they might also have been raped."
Preliminary investigation revealed that the women were friends and lived in K-section. They had attended a night vigil at one of their homes on Friday night. The two were last seen around midnight when they left the vigil to go buy cigarettes at a nearby tavern.
The case had been handed to the provincial trio task team mandated with investigation of serious crimes in the province for further investigation, Mbambo said.
“We are exhausting all possible avenues including our crime intelligence operatives to trace and bring to justice those responsible for this gruesome act," Free State deputy police commissioner for crime detection Maj-Gen Jones Qhobosheane said.
"To have such young vulnerable women killed in this barbaric manner is appalling and cannot be tolerated. We are therefore inviting the community to work with us in identify those responsible so they can be removed from society.
"Anyone with information can contact Detective Constable Buza Monyaki at 078-265-0205 or contact Crime Stop at 08600-10111,” Qhobosheane said.