KHUBVI - Villagers were shocked to discover the half-naked body of an unknown dead man in a small street next to a public road at Khubvi village, north of Thohoyandou, on Friday morning.

Police believe that the man was killed, dragged and dumped there on Thurday night because he has a gaping wound on his head and there are indications that he was severely assaulted before he died. The upper part of the body was in the grass and the lower one was in the street.

No one bothered to cover it until the arrival of the police and mortuary staff. The dead man’s clothes were dusty which, according to the police, bears testimony that he was dragged and dumped there.

Supt Ailwei Mushavhanamadi of the Vhembe police said the man was approximately 20 years old and his neck was also tied with a rope.

“The murder was so brutal that the deceased was abandoned with his pair of trousers half dressed. We have opened a murder docket but we request community members to assist us with information so that we can investigate the case properly.”

Mushavhanamadi said no one has come forward to claim the body so far. “We suspect the man might be a foreigner because no one seems to know him. However, anyone whose relative is lost can contact the Thohoyandou police for identification of the body. The man was wearing a grey pair of trousers and a blue T-shirt with orange strips in the collar and hands. He has a gaping wound on his head and there are marks in his body which shows that he was mercilessly dragged into the grass in the night. His neck was tied tightly with a rope and his body was lying upside down in the grass.”

Mushavanamadi warned that police will work hard to track down the culprits, so that they are brought to book.

“We are definitely going to make a breakthrough and the murderers will not go away with it before the law takes its course. We request community members to come forward with evidence which will lead to the arrest of the culprits because criminal activities of this nature are unacceptable to our communities.”