Neighbours unsuspecting of dead bodies in panel beating shop

Residents who live next to the building where six bodies were discovered said they did not suspect any foul play despite picking up a foul smell.

Alex Dube who is a caretaker at a building next door said he started picking up a bad smell last week.

“I did not think there was anything serious about the smell because there are many companies around here. I thought it is just waste from one of the companies,” Dube said.

He said on the spot where the bodies were found, there was a panel beating business.

“All we know is that there is a panel beating business there. We saw cars coming in and leaving. We know the guy that was arrested by police. He operated the business. We did not suspect anything,” Dube said.

On Sunday, police were called to the building on Stevenson Road, near Faraday Taxi Rank in the Johannesburg inner city, after a bad smell was troubling some of the residents.

Six bodies of women were found in the panel beating business and a 21-year-old man was arrested.

The smell of the dead bodies was still there when Sowetan visited the building on Monday morning.

A big van was parked outside with its doors open and two other vehicles were next to it.

Taxi drivers whose vehicles park right next to the spot where the bodies were discovered said they could not pick up the smell.

“We knew that there is people panel beating cars there. In the past that building used to produce safety boots before it was taken over by new owners. We did not suspect that anything wrong was happening in the building,” said one of the taxi drivers.

The six bodies discovered in the building are believed to be of sex workers.

Police said the first body to be discovered was that of a woman who had been reported missing.

dlaminip@sowetan.co.za