Gogo raped and killed in KZN
2012-08-03 10:07
Thamsanqa Magubane & Gabisile Ngcobo, The Witness
Pietermaritzburg - A 62-year-old man from KwaDambuza near Edendale in Pietermaritzburg could identify the mutilated body of his partner of many years only by one arm and a leg after she was raped and her face was severely battered in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Kuteyi Mbambo said an arm and a leg told him that the woman lying lifeless on the road was his partner, Pauline Ngubane, 60, who had left to go to a clinic earlier.
Her body was discovered by community members next to a sewage pipe in Snathing Road.
She had been stripped naked.
Walked to clinic
Mbambo sat on his bed at his one-room house on Thursday, describing his loss as pain etched his face.
He said Ngubane had left their home just before 03:00 to collect her medication from the Caluza clinic.
She usually left early to avoid the long queues at the clinic, and had to walk because there were no minibus taxis.
Mbambo said he expected Ngubane back home at 06:00.
“Normally I accompany her in the morning, but on Wednesday I had to babysit our 4-year-old grandson.”
When she had not returned by 09:00, Mbambo decided to walk to the clinic to check if she was being kept overnight.
On his way there, he saw a group of people and police officers gathered around a body.
“I asked people what was going on, but no one would speak.
“I then asked the police. I told them I was on my way to the clinic to look for my partner, and they asked me for her name.
“I saw a leg and then an arm, and I knew it was her. I then looked at her face. It was completely smashed, smeared with blood and swollen.
“I could not recognise her. She was naked.
Final indignity
“They didn’t even leave her bra on. The only thing decent about her was the blanket that the community had covered her with.”
At the memory of this final indignity to the love of his life, his grief overwhelmed him and he broke down in tears, saying he did not know what kind of person would be “that vicious to beat her up like that”.
“Now I am left here with nothing, and I do not know what to do.”
The police believe that Ngubane was raped before being killed.
Wednesday’s incident came after two elderly women were raped in the Swayimane area of Greytown.
An 82-year-old woman was raped on Saturday and a 92-year-old woman on July 23.
Anyone with information about Ngubane’s death should call the investigating officer, Lieutenant Sipho Lawrence Bhengu, of Plessislaer detective services, at 033 3989774 or 083 5305392.
