The community of Roodepan in Kimberley is up in arms after the decomposed body of a 31-year-old woman, who had been missing since June 7, was exhumed from a shallow grave.

Northern Cape police recovered the woman's body behind a shack in Roodepan on Thursday. 

A 39-year-old man, believed to be the ex-boyfriend of the deceased, was arrested. 

Community member Lucky Riet, who went to the scene on Thursday, said a strong stench was coming from behind the shack.

Riet, who is from the Concerned Group in Ward 29, told TimesLIVE: "“When I arrived the police had cordoned off the area with tape and had just started digging. The family was there waiting.

“As soon as they exhumed the body, you could see how her mother was shaking because of shock. She couldn’t cry or talk, that’s how shocked she was,” Riet said.

He said police approached the mother and asked her if she was strong enough to identify the body. The mother declined and asked a relative to identify the body.

“That family member looked at the body once and confirmed it was the missing woman.”

Riet said forensic experts removed the body and left, accompanied by the family.

After police left, the community held a meeting to discuss the way forward, he said.

“The community decided the suspect must never return to the community, and burned down his shack.

“The community burned his mother's shack too.”

Riet described an eerie atmosphere in the shack in which the alleged killer lived.

“It looked like a graveyard inside. He even had trees planted in it.”