Tongaat reels after two elderly women are murdered in their homes
Tongaat SAPS has urged senior citizens to be extra vigilant and not to allow themselves to become easy targets.
Two elderly women were brutally murdered in their homes in Tongaat over the last week.
Poongavanum Naicker was found bludgeoned to death in her home on Sunday – this after another elderly lady, Nagamma Naidu had been found dead and bound in her home in Hercus Avenue last week Wednesday.
According to Tongaat SAPS spokesperson warrant officer Manisha Maharaj-Marie, ninety-one year old Naidu was home alone last Wednesday morning while her daughter Vee was out shopping.
Returning before 11am, Vee found her mother lying unresponsive on her side on her bedroom floor and called on her neighbours for assistance.
Once she was lifted up they saw that there was both a gag in the lifeless woman’s mouth and her arms and legs had been bound.
“Signs of forced entry were detected in the home – though it is still uncertain if anything was stolen as the house was in complete disarray,” said Maharaj-Marie.
In the second case an eighty-one year old lady living on Outspan Road was found dead in her home on Sunday with a severe head injury.
Maharaj-Marie told The Courier that the woman’s neighbours became concerned after they had not seen Naicker doing her usual daily gardening and alerted a nearby SAPS patrol.
At 5pm police officers entered the house to find Naicker dead, the wound to her head was apparently inflicted with a blunt object.
“A case of murder was opened and one arrest has been made,” said Maharaj-Marie.
It is not yet clear what the motive for the crime was.
Maharaj-Marie says police do not suspect any links between these two cases.
Tributes have poured in amidst the outrage over the Tongaat Facebook group with many former students from Tongaat Secondary School (across the road from Naicker’s house) fondly remembering the ‘aunty’ who was always up early to conscientiously tend her beautiful garden.
Tongaat SAPS has urged the elderly to be extra vigilant and not to allow themselves to become easy targets.
“We urge people not to leave elderly family members alone and to ensure that they regularly check in with them,” appealed Maharaj-Marie.
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