Hazel Sibongile Nkomo had been missing for over a month before her remains were found buried with dogs in her yard.
|||Cape Town - A murdered Cape Town woman has been found buried along with her family’s dogs in a shallow grave in her own backyard.
Police have taken the woman’s lover in for questioning following the grim find.
The father of her two kids had been helping police dig up the woman’s corpse when he ran off only to be nabbed hours later.
Hazel Sibongile Nkomo had been missing for well over a month before her battered remains were found along with the corpses of her two family pets.
It is believed her killer buried the dogs to disguise the smell of Hazel’s decaying flesh.
It is unclear whether he also killed the dogs.
Family members say they had searched for her for weeks and that her lover had helped them.
On Wednesday evening, the truth was finally uncovered when police dug up a shallow grave at the back of Hazel’s Mfuleni shack.
Two decaying dogs were the first to be unearthed before police found Hazel’s body lying beneath the family pets.
A white plastic bag was used to cover her corpse.
The 43-year-old’s body was found with a stab wound on her upper shoulder.
She had also allegedly been strangled.
Hazel’s cellphone was also recovered from the grave.
Police have now taken her 44-year-old partner in for questioning after he fled from the scene.
He reported Hazel missing on March 14, claiming to have last seen her on February 16.
Family members said that they never believed Hazel would leave her two young children without saying anything.
Hazel’s brother-in-law Siwakhile Mgqingwana, 48 said after they got news that she was missing they arrived to try and find her.
“We searched everywhere and eventually we got suspicious of this boyfriend,” he told the Daily Voice.
“Last Saturday we went to the police station again to tell them we suspected him.
“They took him for questioning on Sunday and Monday but they kept releasing him.
“This is a very emotional time for us but we are relieved that she has finally been found even though it was right under our nose where nobody bothered to check.”
Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk says the investigating officer Deliah Rhodes searched the house on Wednesday with the partner.
“After walking around, she caught a smell of decay,” he told the Daily Voice.
“The partner told her it must be the two dogs that died that he had been meaning to throw out.
“She insisted on digging them up and called the K9 unit and that was when he left to fetch a spade but never came back.
“In the hours of [yesterday] morning a 44-year-old was taken in for questioning and if charged he will appear in court soon. A post-mortem will be done to establish a cause of death.”
Daily Voice