A number of people have been taken in for questioning at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Westville campus in Durban following the murder of a student, allegedly by his 25-year-old room-mate.
Police say the 24-year-old student was reported missing two days ago by his girlfriend.
His badly burnt body was discovered in the bushes inside the campus premises.
KwaZulu-Natal Police spokesperson Jay Naicker says:
“A 25-year-old suspect has been detained by the police on charges of murder, and this stage we are interviewing his colleagues and witnesses to what happened this morning. What we can tell you is that they are quite shocked at this stage. Look, it is worrying because there is a lot of security on the premises… as we are here now, you can see we can see vehicles conducting patrols in the premises. It’s very difficult to prevent something like this, where the victim and the suspect share such close relationship… and these things happen in a closed environment.”
Police believe that the 24-year-old student might have been murdered first, before his body was set alight.
Naicker says they believe the victim was lured to the bushes within the campus premises, making it easy for the suspect to kill him.
“Looking at the area and the location where the body was found, it would seem that the deceased was lured to the area by the suspect making it easier to dispose of the body. But all of that will be uncovered once they have taken him through the process… pointing out of the crime scene… We believe he had been struck before the body was set alight, so in light of the fact that the body was severely burnt, we rely on the pathologist’s report.”
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