She was just 21 years old – with her future ahead of her – but none of that mattered to her killer, who yesterday beat her to death with his bare hands in Pietermaritzburg.

The young woman’s 50-year-old boyfriend was subsequently arrested.

Residents living in Regina Road, Northdale, said they heard shouts and screaming in the road at around 03:00 but had no idea that a young woman was being beaten to death.

Police and private security patrol staff found the woman lying on the road after reports of an altercation.

The young woman lived in the nearby Nkululeko settlement and was apparently returning home with her boyfriend, according to Ward 28 councillor Renisha Singh.

She says reports have suggested that the deceased had been in an abusive relationship, but this could not be confirmed.

Paramedics from EMRS responded to the incident but declared the victim dead on the scene.

As word of the murder spread through the settlement, the woman’s mother arrived to find her daughter’s dead body lying in the street.

Mountain Rise Police Station spokesperson Warrant Officer Pancheal Singh says the murder was officially reported at 06:53.

“When police arrived, the mother of the deceased pointed out the victim, who had several visible assault marks on her body,” adds Singh.

Acting on information received, police arrested a Lesotho national on charges of murder.

This is the second reported gender-based violence crime in Northdale within the last nine days.

The Witness last week reported on the murder of a woman who was stabbed in the back and left for dead, allegedly by her boyfriend Brendon Buckley, who recently appeared in court on a murder charge.