Family devastated after missing woman (40) found mutilated
Maria Skhosana's body was found near the Mnandi cemetery in Olievenhoutbosch .
The family of a 40-year old missing woman is devasted after her body was found dumped near a Cemetery in Olievenhoutbosch on Wednesday.
Maria Skhosana was found mutilated in what is suspected to be a muthi murder.
Skhosana was last seen by her family on 27 November last year and reported missing to the police the next day.
Her partner Thamisanqa Mahlangu said Maria, who was four months pregnant, had decided to have an abortion and had left that day to have the procedure performed.
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“I didn’t agree with her decision, but I couldn’t stop her either. I didn’t even know where she was going to have it done” he said.
“I was in Mpumalanga when I received a call the next day that she had not returned home.”
He said he rushed back to Pretoria to search for her and his first instinct led him to hospitals.
“I thought that maybe she was hospitalised after the procedure, that maybe she may have been bleeding and needed additional attention. But we didn’t find her.”
Weeks went by and Maria was still nowhere to be found.
Mahlangu said the family had even resorted to seeking the help from spiritual leaders, who reassured them that she would be back.
” A week ago, I then searched for all the contact details of abortion places in the area. I contacted one who said they had not treated my partner, but something was not right about him.”
He said he knew something was wrong when the so-called abortion expert asked for a picture of Maria to confirm if he had not in fact treated her.
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“Why would he ask for a picture? Would he not know her names and Surname?”
“I pleaded with him to please bring her back, but he insisted that he knew nothing.”
On Sunday Mahlangu received a call from an anonymous person, who said he had information about Maria’s whereabouts.
He said the person told him that Maria was killed.
“He gave me the location of a place where he said the owner was involved in Maria’s murder,” said Mahlangu
“I took this information to the police who were reluctant to help.”
He mobilized members of the community who then followed the information which led them to a muthi shop in extention 21.
“We found a young man who insisted he knew nothing and that he had a boss he worked for. We took him to the police, but he was later released and he wasn’t even interviewed.”
Mahlangu said he and the community members pleaded with the police until they caught the attention of one officer who after following leads rearrested the same young man.
The father of two said he believed that the young man was using illegal abortions to lure women into his “surgery” stealing their body parts and then killing them.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Pretty Mokadi confirmed that the 27-year old man was arrested on Monday.
“The suspect then took police to a place where illegal abortions are conducted and a bag full of women underwear was found and burned.”
“Regarding the muthi killing, at this stage, we cannot confirm as the matter is still investigated,” said Mokadi.
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Mahlangu said the family has been struggling to cope and the idea of waiting three more months for Maria’s burial was even more stressful.
“We couldn’t identify her because of how she was badly mutilated. We were told that DNA test would take up to three months,” he said.
“We can’t even sleep at night.”
Maria, a mother of two, was employed as a domestic worker.
“Her birthday on the 16th of December was a very dull one,” Mahlangu said.
Women in the community who did not want to be named said they felt unsafe and targeted.
They called on the police to reopen unsolved missing persons cases to see if they cannot be linked to the suspect.
” How many other women has he killed? Who are the owners of the other underwear found? “
They said they would mobilise other members of the community to raise their concerns with the police.
The 27-year old man is expected to appear in court soon.
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