‘Three women a day die at partner’s hands’

A WOMAN was stabbed to death on the eve of Women’s Day in Mitchells Plain at the weekend.

Candice Bowers, 28, was found dead with “multiple stab wounds” in her Morgan Village home on Saturday morning. Her husband, 32, was also stabbed and is in hospital.

Police spokesperson Tembinkosi Kinana said no arrest had been made.

Mitchells Plain community policing forum chairperson Abe Isaacs said it appeared the couple had an argument.

“We get more than 300 incidents of domestic violence a month. That’s triple the amount compared to gang violence,” he said.

Shaheema McLeod, director of the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children, said gender-based violence in South Africa was at an all-time high.

“On an average day in South Africa, three women will die at the hands of their intimate partners.

“We cannot sit back and celebrate Women’s Month when every 17 seconds a woman is raped, or when 40 percent of men admit to hitting their partners,” McLeod said. “The problem with abuse is that it so imbedded in South Africa culture and perceived gender roles.”

After another recent case of violence, US businesswoman Gabriela Alban was laid to rest yesterday.

She was murdered at an exclusive Cape Town boutique hotel in Camps Bay on July 29.

Alban, 39, was buried at Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

A resident of Brentwood who graduated from Beverly Hills High School and Pepperdine University, said she had been in Cape Town with her boyfriend, Diego Novella, 43. He has been charged with her murder.

According to media reports, police found a large amount of cocaine at the scene and Novella was arrested while walking semi-naked on Camps Bay beach.

His attorney, William Booth, expressed concern about “drug dealing” being reported in the media.

A reliable family source, who spoke to the Cape Times on condition of anonymity, said Alban was an “incredibly talented woman”.

“Gabriela loved her family. She was a ray of light and one of the most genuine people you could have known. The whole family is struggling. We all want to know what really happened in Cape Town,” the source said yesterday.

Novella is expected be back in court on Friday.