Neighbours and family of a couple found bound together and burnt to death in their home during the weekend are struggling to come to terms with their loss – and the horrific thought of the painful death they endured.
Neighbours and family of a couple found bound together and burnt to death in their home during the weekend are struggling to come to terms with their loss – and the horrific thought of the painful death they endured.
The bodies of Vukile Nyikilana, 36, and his longtime girlfriend Pumla Bongwana, 34, were found bound together in the remains of their RDP house in Mkhombe Street, Extension 9, on Saturday night.
When Grocott's Mail arrived on Sunday morning, police had cordoned off the house, the contents of which were reduced by fire to rubble.
Sheets of corrugated iron, twisted by the heat, lay in front of the house. Burnt electrical appliances and furniture could be seen through the charred doorframe.
A neighbour, seeing the blaze, had rushed into the house in a bid to save the occupants. But he said he entered the house and found no one.
"I alerted other residents, who arrived and put out the flames,” he told Grocott's Mail.
Another neighbour believed the fire had been started by robbers.
Around 11pm, the police were called.
"The whole house was totally gutted and a body of a male and a female were found in the toilet," said police spokesperson Mali Govender, who confirmed an inquest docket had been opened.
Both families are still reeling from the incident.
Nyikilana's elder brother, Bongani Nyikilana, told Grocott's Mail that around 11pm, they had been woken up by a stranger, who told them the house in Extension 9 was on fire.
“We rushed there and there were police and fire fighters trying to put out the flames,” he said.
Nyikilana said his family had lost a peacemaker.
"He was a counsellor, an adviser," said Nyikilana.
“Although he was younger than me, I would go to him to seek his advice."
Nyikilana said Vuks, as his late brother was affectionately known, loved his family, especially children.
“We are three men at home and two sisters, but Vukile was the one uncle that our nieces and nephews loved,” he said.
