Rhodes reels after student slaying
2003-05-06 14:27
Cecile Greyling and Mike Loewe
Grahamstown - The quiet university town of Grahamstown is reeling following the bloody murder of a third-year journalism student.
Twenty-two-year-old Rhodes University student Boitumelo "Tumi" Manyadioane was found dead on her bed at the Olive Schreiner residence on Sunday night.
The popular, Zimbabwean-born television journalism student and sub-warden at the residence had multiple stab wounds. A pair of bloodied scissors and a butcher's knife were found at the scene. The knife was found under Manyadioane's body.
Her ex-boyfriend, a pharmacy student also from Zimbabwe, was found stabbed in the stomach and neck.
He was lying unconscious on the floor near Manyadioane and is in a serious but stable condition at Livingstone hospital in Port Elizabeth.
He is under police guard as he is a suspect in the case.
A fellow sub-warden who went to check in on Manyadioane when she failed to lock the residence doors by 23:00 on Sunday night, was the first to find the couple.
She had used her master key to enter Manyadioane's room and immediately called another sub-warden who is a fourth-year pharmacy student, who confirmed that Manyadioane had no pulse, but that her ex-boyfriend was still breathing.
University spokesperson Linda Burton said: "At no stage during the evening did Tumi's neighbours in Olive Schreiner hear any commotion."
This was confirmed by a group of wide-eyed and traumatised Olive Schreiner students.
All 84 student residents are receiving counselling.
One of Manyadioane's classmates, who did not want to be named, said: "I went straight to class to ask Tumi if she knew who had been killed on campus.
"Then I heard it was her. Everyone here is just crying. She was such a loving person. Everyone is not taking this well. Some people couldn't even stay in class."
Another student said: "She was very friendly and cheerful and fun to have around. She was very sociable, and animated. She embraced student life. Everyone is very upset and even outraged. We all feel desperate because we cannot understand how this could have happened."
Vice-chancellor Dr David Woods expressed his shock and dismay at what he called a "senseless act of violence".
"The entire Rhodes community has been shocked to the core by this murder and my deepest sympathies go to her friends and loved ones".
This is the first ever student murder in the university's history. - African Eye News Service/East Cape News
- African Eye