News / National
Woman killed, set on fire at city lodge
12 Dec 2017 at 05:27hrs | Views
A PREGNANT woman believed to be in her thirties was allegedly killed at a lodge in Bulawayo, before her body was shoved under a bed and set alight.
The incident, confirmed by Bulawayo chief fire officer Richard Peterson, occurred at Esikhosini Khumalo guest lodge early yesterday morning.
"I can confirm that our team was called in the early hours of yesterday to attend a house fire at number 5 Newhall Avenue Khumalo where one room of the guest house caught fire. On arrival, the fire had already been extinguished by residents and a female adult was severely burnt to death. We suspect that the fire was deliberately set, so as to destroy evidence after the killing," Peterson said.
He said property worth about $2 000 was destroyed in the fire.
However, a worker who spoke to Southern Eye on condition of anonymity said a female adult booked the room, saying her boyfriend was to follow later and promised to pay for the room the following morning.
"I heard some screams coming from their room and there was silence thereafter, in the early hours of the day. I thought they were enjoying themselves. I heard somebody locking the room and I woke my colleague, as we suspected that they were the ones who wanted to evade paying for the room. We went to the front door intending to wait and block them from leaving without paying. No one came out until we went back to our room. That was when I realised that there was smoke coming from the room, but it was locked," the worker said.
She said they called the fire brigade and found the body of the female adult under the mattress which was severely damaged.
The incident, confirmed by Bulawayo chief fire officer Richard Peterson, occurred at Esikhosini Khumalo guest lodge early yesterday morning.
"I can confirm that our team was called in the early hours of yesterday to attend a house fire at number 5 Newhall Avenue Khumalo where one room of the guest house caught fire. On arrival, the fire had already been extinguished by residents and a female adult was severely burnt to death. We suspect that the fire was deliberately set, so as to destroy evidence after the killing," Peterson said.
He said property worth about $2 000 was destroyed in the fire.
However, a worker who spoke to Southern Eye on condition of anonymity said a female adult booked the room, saying her boyfriend was to follow later and promised to pay for the room the following morning.
"I heard some screams coming from their room and there was silence thereafter, in the early hours of the day. I thought they were enjoying themselves. I heard somebody locking the room and I woke my colleague, as we suspected that they were the ones who wanted to evade paying for the room. We went to the front door intending to wait and block them from leaving without paying. No one came out until we went back to our room. That was when I realised that there was smoke coming from the room, but it was locked," the worker said.
She said they called the fire brigade and found the body of the female adult under the mattress which was severely damaged.
Source - newsday
