Claims of rape and murder have no basis
Peter Luhanga
- Woman dies after drinking Old Buck gin from shebeen.
- Facebook group Dunoon Nentozayo 7741 lit up with rape and murder allegations.
- Cops say no injuries, autopsy rules out foul play.
A woman collapsed and died in a shack in Newlands informal settlement in Dunoon after allegedly drinking Old Buck gin purchased from a local shebeen.
The woman’s death on Monday 4 August triggered Facebook posts claiming she had been raped and strangled, shared multiple times in community groups. But police have dismissed these claims as unfounded, with Table View police spokesperson Captain Adriana Chandler saying officers found no visible injuries or signs of foul play.
“Nobody was arrested as all the occupants in the shack were drunk,” Chandler told Iliso Labantu News.
Inside the small shack, residents and uniformed officers were gathered alongside the woman’s mother. The man she had been drinking with, bleeding from the forehead, told a detective his brother had assaulted him. Blood was visible on the floor.
The detective, unable to take statements from intoxicated witnesses, said interviews would be conducted the following day.
Chandler said on Tuesday 5 August the investigating officer was informed by the Observatory Forensic Pathology Institute that a woman had since claimed she saw the man “on top of the deceased”. She said this detail had not been shared at the scene and an autopsy carried out on Thursday 7 August found “no foul play” suspected.
She said police were still waiting on the toxicology and alcohol report, and the inquest remains open. The gin the woman had been drinking had come from a local shebeen.
Another woman who had been drinking with the deceased on the day of her death, and who has known her since she moved to Newlands, spoke to Iliso Labantu News on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted.
She said she joined the deceased and three men at a shebeen in the settlement at about 9am on Monday 4 August. One of the men suggested they continue drinking at a friend’s shack nearby.
The group bought a bottle of Old Buck gin and four Black Label beers before moving to the shack, she said.
The friend claimed her mate knocked back a hefty shot of gin and almost instantly looked to be in trouble. She said she helped her onto a couch. At that point there were four people inside the shack.
The friend said she left to look for help to carry the deceased home, returning with a neighbour to find the deceased’s trousers partly lowered. She dressed her and tried to lift her, but she was not strong enough. The friend said the deceased was still alive at this stage, before midday.
She said she went out again and came back about half an hour later to find her trousers lowered again and yellow foam at her mouth.
Only one man remained in the shack. She said she pulled up the trousers, cleaned the foam, and noticed the deceased had soiled herself.
She claimed she saw the man lying behind her.
She said she’d known the deceased for a year and described her as kind, sweet and loved by everyone who knew her.
“She would come to me for advice whenever something was bothering her. I still cannot believe she is gone,” she said.
Side bar
FACT CHECK: FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT NEWLANDS DEATH
The claim: Posts in the Facebook group Dunoon Nentozayo 7741 alleged the woman was raped and strangled to death in Newlands informal settlement on 4 August.
The facts: Table View police say officers found no visible injuries and no signs of foul play at the scene. The autopsy, carried out on 7 August, concluded “no foul play is suspected”.
The status: An inquest is open and toxicology and alcohol reports are pending.