The family and neighbours of an elderly Milnerton woman who was murdered in a home invasion are reeling with shock.
|||Cape Town - The family and neighbours of an elderly Milnerton woman who was murdered in a home invasion on Tuesday are reeling with shock.
Arlene Davids’ body was discovered by a neighbour and friend who went to investigate after she had not emerged from her Sanddrift home in Diana Road by mid-morning.
It is believed that she was killed during a home invasion, shortly after her son, understood to be the only other person living in the house, went to work.
On Tuesday her body was removed by forensic pathologists from her home, but crime scene investigators were still on the scene this morning, as weeping family members held vigil in the street outside.
Police said this morning that the 60-year-old woman’s neighbour came to her house to confirm a lift that she arranged with her previously.
The neighbour knocked on the door, but there was no answer.
She noticed the gate and door standing ajar and went inside the home and discovered the body of the victim on the floor of her bedroom.
The woman had suffered severe blunt trauma to her head and had died on the scene, said police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk.
The circumstances surrounding the incident were unknown at this stage, said Van Wyk.
Approached by the Cape Argus, the family asked to be left alone. Neighbours from the quiet cul-de-sac were willing to speak, but said that there many rumours about the crime.
“I don’t want to spread half-truths, but this certainly is a terrible tragedy. I have lived here for 40 years, and never have we had anything more than an average house breaking.
“I used to feel so safe that my front door would be unlocked. Now I don’t know anymore, all of us will have to be more vigilant,” said Diana Street resident Laura Hoffman.
Hoffman said that Davids was a “quiet and cordial lady”, who lived with her son, a school teacher.
The Cape Argus spoke briefly to the neighbour who had discovered the grisly murder scene inside the house. The woman was visibly in shock. The interview was cut short by members of Davids’ family who asked that reporters return this afternoon, after they have had a briefing from the police on the details of the murder. A murder case has been opened and no arrests have been made.
daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za
Cape Argus