Female warder at Leeuwkop prison ‘was strangled, raped’
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) says it suspects the female warder, who was found dead inside Johannesburg’s Leeuwkop prison, was strangled and raped.
The woman was found dead inside the prison’s Covid-19 isolation ward on Tuesday.
Her death has been confirmed by the Department of Correctional Services, although the cause of death has not been made public.
Popcru spokesperson Richard Mamabolo says heads must now roll at the department.
“It is suspected that the officer, whose lifeless body was found where she had been booked to work, at the Covid-19 Isolation ward, might have been strangled and raped. Within the same vicinity, a blood-stained towel was found, indicating that the perpetrator of such a vile crime had ample time to try clean up the evidence.”
Mamabolo says her body was only found after her husband had begun searching for her.
“It is widely established that the officer reported for duty on Tuesday at 7am, and was only discovered after 9pm when her husband made inquiries into her whereabouts.”
The union has called for the immediate suspension of a string of top officials at the prison.
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