Cape Town - Three men were arrested by police within hours after the naked and bloody body of Traceleen Booys, 18, was found in an abandoned building in Lahey Street, Wallacedene.
The Daily Voice can reveal the teen was stabbed 36 times in her neck, and nine times in her vagina.
The suspects - Tashrique Jonas, 24, John Jacobs, 20, and Henrico Davids, 20 - appeared in the Blue Downs Magistrate's Court on Wednesday on charges of kidnapping, rape and murder.
The men are all from Wallacedene.
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The matter was postponed to Wednesday for a bail application.
The Kraaifontein Community Policing Forum has now appealed to people to help them oppose bail for the accused by signing a petition and protesting outside court on Wednesday.
According to neighbours, Traceleen had been with her boyfriend at a shebeen in Lahey Street. But her family has no knowledge of a boyfriend.
Her stepfather David Bangiso, 27, who raised her from the age of eight, said she was never one to stay out late.
“She never went out late, so it was strange that she was not home. We did not know of a boyfriend either,” he said.
“A rasta we know had stumbled upon her body and came to tell us. It was an horrific scene.
“She was lying there naked with her throat slit,” he said.
Henrico Davids Picture: Solly Lottering/Daily Voice
John Jacobs Picture: Solly Lottering/Daily Voice
Tashrique Jonas Picture: Solly Lottering/Daily Voice
A police source says Warrant Officer Sydney van der Heever and his colleagues caught the suspects within hours, after news of Traceleen’s murder spread through the community.
Mawethu Sila, chairperson of Kraaifontein CPF, called on the community and religious leaders to oppose bail.
“We call on the community to come out in large number to support the no-bail for the three accused. We say no to this killing and they must rot in jail,” he says.
He says police have confirmed that the accused were at the same shebeen as Traceleen.
He called on men in the community to protect those in their care.
“We’ve got men in our society who don’t care. We need men to say no to crime.”
Melissa Koli from the Kraaifontein Women’s League called on mothers to raise their sons right.
“Enough is enough. We as woman must not sit with folded hands, men are not created to kill our children,” she said.