Pretoria – Police in Gauteng have discovered the decomposing bodies of six people at a panel-beating workshop in central Joburg.
Gauteng police spokesperson, Brigadier Brenda Muridili told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that a man, 21, has been arrested after the grim discovery on Sunday.
“Police were called to a building in Joburg central where there was a foul smell reported. On further investigations, a body of a female was discovered and based on the preliminary investigation that was done on the scene, a 21-year-old male who lives in that particular building was arrested by the police,” she said.
“On further investigations by the police at the same building, but outside the building in a sort of a driveway where there are rubbish bins, they found five more bodies and unfortunately these bodies were at a very late stage of decomposition. Police are not able to identify those bodies but the will be subjected to forensic analysis so that they can be identified.”
On social media, there is widespread speculation that the bodies are of sex workers who have been targeted and murdered in the area.
Muridili said at this stage, police cannot confirm the allegations.
“We cannot ascertain that at this stage but it is one of the angles that the police will follow. When the police were doing investigations and combing the scene, there were reports from some of the bystanders that there has been two or three alleged sex workers that have been missing,” she said.
“We know for a fact that the first body that was discovered, she was reported missing by friends. At this stage also, we cannot ascertain the details of the (deceased) person as to where she was working but police are working on that.”
Muridili said the bodies of the five bodies discovered outside the building showed that they had been deceased for a while. However, the body of the woman discovered inside the building showed that she was killed “as recent as last week”.
About 10 days ago, that woman was seen in the company of the 21-year-old man who has since been arrested at the building.
“He was the last person seen with the first body that was recovered. This just happened yesterday,” Muridili said.
IOL