The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services has appealed to authorities to leave no stone unturned in finding the perpetrator responsible for the death of a female correctional officer at the Leeuwkop Correctional Centre.

Committee Chairperson Bulelani Magwanishe said according to reports the officer was found dead on Wednesday night at the centre.

“It is suspected that the officer, whose lifeless body was found where she had been booked to work at the COVID-19 isolation ward, might have been strangled and raped. A blood-stained towel was found within the same vicinity, indicating that the perpetrator of such a vile crime had ample time to try to clean up the evidence,” Magwanishe said.

Magwanishe appealed to the authorities to find the perpetrator and deal with them harshly in terms of the law.

“I will request the Department of Correctional Services for a full report on this matter from the centre management of Leeuwkop,” Magwanishe said.

The chairperson expressed his sincere condolences to the deceased’s family, friends and the DCS family for their loss.

Source: South African Government News Agency