Mystery surrounds the bloody slaying of a Durban woman‚ shot and killed in what appears to be a hijacking gone awry on Saturday.

The 33-year-old mother‚ who had been pulled from the car‚ had been shot in full view of her seven-year-old child.

A source with knowledge of the investigation‚ who spoke to the publication on condition of anonymity‚ said that the woman and her husband had driven to a petrol station together.

“The husband told us that his wife had been driving because he was drunk. They stopped and he went inside the garage to buy something and then we he came out he saw his wife was on the floor and a man was pointing a gun at her‚” he said.

The source said that the woman had been executed‚ shot twice as she lay on the ground and had died at the scene. Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane said that detectives were examining the events leading up to the murder and that no arrests had been made yet. “A 33-year-old was seated in the passenger seat of the vehicle on Tara Road when an unknown suspect allegedly fired several shots at her‚” he said.

“She died at the scene and the motive of the killing is unknown at this stage‚” he said.