A KwaZulu-Natal community is reeling after a 36-year-old woman was discovered dead inside her rented room in Phase 5, Waterloo, outside Durban on Monday afternoon, shortly after her husband abandoned their child with a neighbour and vanished.

Private security and medical emergency service Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) responded to a call for assistance at approximately 17:28.

Upon arriving at the scene, reaction officers discovered the deceased woman lying face down on a blanket on the floor.

According to a 66-year-old neighbour, the woman’s 38-year-old husband approached him earlier in the afternoon, asking him to watch the couple’s 15-month-old toddler while he went to buy cigarettes.

“Approximately 30 minutes later, the child needed to be breastfed and the husband had still not returned,” a RUSA representative noted.

Concerned by the delay, the neighbour went to the couple’s home to look for the parents, only to discover the mother’s lifeless body.

The situation grew more suspicious when a family acquaintance arrived at the property to conduct a wellness check.

The acquaintance revealed that the suspect’s brother had contacted them after receiving a phone call from the husband.

During that call, the husband allegedly claimed his wife had slipped, fallen, and lost consciousness. Immediately after the call, the husband’s cellphone was switched off.

While local residents and acquaintances allege that the husband had a history of assaulting his wife while intoxicated, authorities have cautioned against premature conclusions.

Local community members expressed fears that the woman was murdered, but officials stress that this cannot be verified at this stage.

RUSA paramedics who assessed the woman noted that rigor mortis had already set in.

She was officially declared deceased at the scene.

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