A 19-year-old teenage mother was allegedly beaten and burnt to death in Pretoria. The incident is said to have happened in the wee hours of the morning of 8 June 2023.

Lydia Motshoane was killed in what her family claims to have been a mob justice. However, the police disputed this and are looking into a murder investigation.

Motshoane is shown in horrifying footage being beaten to a pulp with blunt weapons by numerous people, according to Pretoria Rekord.

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They allege that they couldn’t even move freely at night and can be heard asking her why she is “marking” them.

“It’s very hard to figure out what happened. No one is willing to tell us,” said Maria Ntsele, the sister.

“I went to the scene immediately. When I got there, her body was still on the scene. I stayed there while we waited for the ambulance and for more police officers to arrive.We were told that it was a mob justice attack.

“One of the guys that I spoke to says my sister was with the wrong guys.

“She was caught with one of these guys, who apparently escaped. She couldn’t escape and got a beating,” the sister claims.

“They also poured acid on her and burned her. I don’t know what to do and no one is willing to talk. No one wants to tell us what happened. I want someone to tell us what happened.”

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The teenage mother was still a child

The teenage girl, leaves behind her eight siblings, mother, and two children who are aged two and three.

“I want people to know that she was still a child, and she also had kids. She went through a lot and why pour acid on this child? She didn’t deserve to be beaten the way she was. People were passing her as if she were an animal,” she added.

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“I wish people could start acting respectfully and treat someone else’s child as if they were theirs. We deal with gender-based violence a lot, and we still get people who think it is okay to beat someone like this.

“It isn’t going to stop with my sister.”

Gauteng police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi says that police are investigating a ‘case of murder following the discovery of a woman’s body yesterday’.

“It seems like the victim was walking on Umhlume Street and she was attacked by unknown suspects. The victim had head injuries and was also burned.

“The circumstances surrounding the incident are unknown at this stage, and the police investigation continues.”

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