Secunda – Police on Friday identified 65-year-old Tryphina Elizabeth Mngomezulu as the domestic worker who was mauled to death by six dogs that belonged to her employer.
The domestic worker was fatally attacked at her workplace in Secunda, Mpumalanga by vicious dogs a week ago, on 2 March 2024.
She was found dead by her employer, who summoned the police.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Colonel Donald Mdhluli, said an inquest would be held.
However, Colonel Mdhluli said police had collected CCTV footage from the house of the day of the attack.
“The probe is still ongoing and nothing has been concluded,” Colonel Mdhluli said.
Media reports soon after the attack quoted local police spokesperson Constable Busi Mthethwa as saying the family’s 10-year-old daughter raised the alarm when she saw Mngomezulu lying on the ground.
The reports said when the police and other emergency services arrived at the scene, they initially thought the woman had been stabbed to death because her clothes were torn off and she had multiple wounds.
Constable Busi Mthethwa said it was only after the police viewed video footage that they realised that the six Belgian Malinois in the yard had attacked her.
Mthethwa said CCTV footage showed the woman hitting the dogs with a green garden hose before the attack.
“They then began attacking her and continued to bite her when she fell to the ground,” Constable Mthethwa was quoted as saying.
Constable Mthethwa said the domestic worker bled to death because of the injuries to her neck.
Mngomezulu’s left upper arm was also “ripped apart”. Her braids were ripped from her scalp.
She was declared dead on the scene.
On Friday, Colonel Mdhluli did not say the fate of the vicious Belgian Malinois dogs.
