Tossed in ditch like dirt: Visit to crime scene as boyfriend in court for Karabo murder

Karabo Mokoena's lifeless body was tossed into a ditch and then set alight in veld used as a dumpsite by Lyndhurst residents.

When The Times visited the site - behind a neatly trimmed park on a pathway used by school children - hours after her alleged killer appeared in court on Friday, it was filled with discarded tins, empty cement bags, cardboard boxes, wires and tree stumps, with a homeless man rummaging through the detritus.

Mokoena, whose passion was helping abused women, was consumed by fire on April 29.

She had disappeared two days previously after an alleged altercation with her boyfriend at a Sandton nightclub.

Her murder, and the subsequent arrest of her boyfriend, Sandile Mantsoe, has caused shock, sparking a social media outrage and international media attention.

• Chaos in court as Karabo Mokoena murder suspect appearsChaos erupted in the small courtroom of the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court where Sandile Mantsoe‚ the man accused of killing Karabo Mokoena‚ was to make his first appearance.

Sources have told The Times that the fire was so severe that only a portion of her leg remained.

Lyndhurst resident Precious Ngomana was present the day Mokoena was found.

She said marks in the sand suggested Mokoena's lifeless body had been dragged to the ditch.

Nongoma said she believed Mokoena was set slight early in the morning because when daylight broke, her body was still smouldering.

• 3 powerful celebrity reactions to Karabo's death Numerous high-profile celebrities have joined thousands of people in paying tribute to Karabo Mokoena after news of her death emerged on Thursday morning.

"There was a lot of blood there," she said.

But, two weeks later, traces of the incident were beginning to diminish.

A small burnt patch of ground, along with a piece of yellow police cordon tape trampled into the ground, were the only reminders of the gruesome crime.

It is believed that Mokoena's body was doused with petrol. A tyre was then placed around her neck and set alight.

The missing person pamphlets Mokoena's family had distributed could not be used to identify her .

Mantsoe is expected in court on May 24.