Suicide jump onto Jhb diner
2008-03-19 09:32
Johannesburg - Waiters at a popular restaurant in Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton had a bizarre experience on Tuesday shortly after they opened, when a woman fell through the roof and landed on the tables.
The 41-year-old woman, who was declared dead at the restaurant, had jumped from her room on the sixth floor of the Michelangelo Towers Hotel shortly after 09:00 and landed on the outside tables of the Butcher Shop and Grill.
According to bystanders, there had not been any customers and the morning staff had just arrived.
Police confirmed that the woman, whose name was not yet known, had committed suicide.
Police found a suicide note from her room said Inspector Lee Ramdyal.
Ramdyal said the woman had reserved a room on the sixth floor shortly after 08:00 on Tuesday morning.
Less than an hour later, she jumped to her death.
It was the second time in four months that a woman had committed suicide by jumping from a window of a hotel belonging to the Legacy group.
In December, Shelley Nortier, 52, of Glenwood, Durban, booked a room for one night on the seventh floor of the Michelangelo Towers Hotel in Sandton.
A security guard found her corpse in the early morning about 500m from the hotel entrance.
Hours after Tuesday's suicide, bystanders were still standing around pointing to the window from which the woman had jumped.
A hairdresser in Sandton City described the occurrence as "spooky".
"Imagine if you were eating there when it happened," she said.
Heard a scream
According to a staff member of a restaurant in Nelson Mandela Square they heard a bang just after 09:00.
When she realised that something was seriously wrong, she and other waiters ran closer to see what was happening.
Waiters from the Butcher Shop and Grill told them they had heard a scream seconds before the woman had landed.
Neither the owners of the restaurant nor of the Michelangelo Towers Hotel wanted to comment.