Burnt body feared to be that of young lesbian woman
Nonkie Smous
There are fears that a young lesbian woman has become the victim of a shocking hate crime, after a burnt out body was discovered in Kroonstad.
According to multiple sources, the charred body was found in the Seeisoville section of the township of Maokeng on Tuesday, just meters from an evangelical church. Smoke had been spotted by residents the night before.
The victim was burned beyond recognition but Mambaonline has been told that an identity document was discovered on the body, indicating that she was 28-year-old Nonkie Smous.
According to local LGBT activist Nthabiseng Mokanyane, who is also a relative of Smous, the young woman was openly lesbian in the community.
She said that Smous was last seen by her family on Saturday when she left for a funeral. The family had not heard from her since and had been looking for her.
“She had a lovely personality and was a friendly kind of person,” said Mokanyane. “Everybody knew her. She made people laugh”.
A local police source has unofficially confirmed the discovery of the body. The Maokeng Police Station, however, refused to provide any information on the case as the station commander is out of town. It’s believed that DNA tests will be required to confirm the victim’s identity.
“This thing took us by surprise,” said Mokanyane. “It is not a homophobic area, we always said that it is lesbian and gay friendly, so we are shocked.” She added: “We don’t know what to say or do. We are broken. It is really sad.”
The murder comes just days after the Free State’s LGBTIQ community commemorated Pride with a march and a celebration in Bloemfontein.
A recent hate crime study by OUT LGBT Well-being and the Love Not Hate campaign found that 41% of LGBT people in South Africa know someone who’s been murdered due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Late last year, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development released draft legislation to formalise hate crimes as a distinct form of crime. The bill remains under consideration.
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Oh my God have mercy upon us who do we tell when things are like this because even those who we seek protection upon leave us helpless and why are you allowing your children to be brutally dangered.We are in pain and tears keep on flowing because we are no longer safe.MAY YOUR PEACEFUL SOUL FIND REST MY SISTER YOU WILL FOREVER BE REMEBERED.
Its ashame that still in South Africa young lives are lost like this just because they are living a live that they are born to live and so angry that another human being gets hateful towards others because they just don’t want to share this beautiful world of ours with one another side by side excepting everyone sexually or colour of their skin There is so much hate in South Africa
May god bless your soul…askies to yr family
This is a gross violation and infringement upon human right to life.Who has the right to take a life?Our Justice System needs to flex its muscles upon such barbaric perpertrators of such inhuman acts.We all have our rights enshrined in the Constitution whether gay or heterosexual.There is no planet meant for Gays and lesbians,we all have to co-exist.My plea to LGBTIQ community members like myself is that we can never change certain people’s mindsets therefore let us try to stay safe at all times.Do not trust easily.Most people are killed or violated sexually by people close to them disguising as friends.HATE CRIME CONTINUES TO EXIST!
it scares me to see 1 of us going through this,if our leaders keep on discrimating us then who will appreciate,accept and love us,we look upon to the government,pastors and our families but sad enough they are too homophobic to an extent that they see us as big sinners which makes the rest to simply follow on their steps….justice is only what we seek,despite our sexuality we are also human beings,we deserve to be loved,hounoured,cared for and respected,may our loving friend soul rest in peace…you will always be missed and respected for the braveness in living your life.if living our lives openly means treated like animal and even killed or should i say slaughtered like them,then so be it….we will never live falsely to satisfy anyone,we also deserve happiness…..world free us,free us from this homophobic thing,we seek justice…we deserve justice…once again may your loving soul rest in peace Smous.
Rest in peace Nonki. Ul always be in our hearts
What happened to Smous is so bad I was with her on Saturday drinking now she is gone….who could have done this to this beautiful soul heh?? Smous had no beef with anyone she was so friendly to everyone
am hurt I can’t even handle her death
may your soul rest in peace my lovely friend u will forever be missed and loved
we won’t rest until justice has been served those people should rot in hell fo good
Hade Ntwana ?
Double junk status with a third to come for this utterly vile nation. He He He He
May ur soul rest in peace Smo we will never forget u,those dogs will rot in jail n god will deal with them they won’t eat or sleep, Ha ele moputso Wa sena batla o thola
You’ll forever remain in my heart batjana you truly were a good friend.may your soul rest in eternal peace
My beloved cousin no matter what the stigma or storms u will forever be remembered,we loved u bfre without judging ur being,we love u now,and we will always love u even in the next life.
I seen this a positive eye GOD choose u for 4 all the LGBT to wake up and stand for their right, gor them 2 speak loud and be heared. My your beautiful soul rest rest peacefully my cuz until we meet again.
Hade poi ;-( am so heart broken…the is no freedom in S.A..rest in peace nokie