The body of an unidentified man who was stabbed several times and beheaded has been found near the railway lines in Swartkops.
The body was found after police were alerted to the corpse lying about 30m down an embankment, near the M19 in Swartkops at 9:30pm on Tuesday.
Police spokesman Captain Andre Beetge said the man was stabbed several times in the chest. His head was also cut off.
“His identity is unknown at this stage however we suspect he is aged between 20 and 30 years. The police were alerted after a person walking in the area at night stumbled onto the body,” he said.
“He was stabbed multiple times and left there. It is suspected that he was killed there and not somewhere else. The man did have a knife tucked into his belt.”
Asked what was used to behead the man, Beetge said they would only know once the postmortem was complete.
“Based on the state of decomposition, we suspect that he was killed sometime on Tuesday afternoon,” he said.
The motive for the murder remains unknown and it appears that the man had no valuables on him.
Anyone who can assist with information can contact detective Warrant officer Jacque Leonard on 082 847 4756.