A second South African Indian woman has been brutally murdered in Durban in less than a week in yet another crime-related incident.
Sarika Nunkoo, 20, of the township of Phoenix, where Mahatma Gandhi once established his Gandhi settlement, was stabbed to death by a bandit early on Wednesday for just her cell phone and R20 cash.
Police said Nunkoo was accompanied to the local bus rank by her sister, Trinisha, when two men approached and demanded cash and her cell phone.
"One grabbed her handbag which contained R20 and a cell phone, while the second then stabbed Sarika with a sharp object. She was stabbed in the left side of her chest, to her heart. She was rushed to the nearby Gandhi Memorial Hospital by her parents where she was certified dead on arrival", police spokesperson Michael Read said.
Trinisha Nunkoo, said there was no need for the men to stab her sister.
"I have been accompanying my sister for the past few days because she had expressed her fears of being mugged. After my sister handed over her handbag, one of the men just turned around and stabbed my sister. They then fled to the nearby informal settlement", she said.
The murder of Nunkoo follows only six days after Mrs Maetri Roopanand, the wife of a prominent Indian businessman Arvind Roopanand, who was shot dead in her home in another robbery attack.
{{/usCountry}}The murder of Nunkoo follows only six days after Mrs Maetri Roopanand, the wife of a prominent Indian businessman Arvind Roopanand, who was shot dead in her home in another robbery attack.
{{/usCountry}}The Roopanands are a well-known family who have been selling imported Indian goods to the local Indian community since the early 1930s. They now own a string of shops in Johannesburg, Durban, and Pietermaritzburg.
Police superintendent, Daniela Westhuizen, said on Wednesday that seven suspects, including the domestic assistant of the Roopanands, have been arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder, robbery and conspiracy to murder.
The domestic had been working for the Roopanands for the past 10 years. "The suspects will appear in the Durban Magistrates' Court soon", said Westhuizen.