A woman opens her vehicle door to usher in four fluffy and excited pooches.
Across the street, a neighbour arrives home and starts unpacking groceries from the boot of her car.
Everything seems normal, except for the yellow crime scene tape fluttering around the house next door.
The house is the scene of a crime where Cape Town magistrate Romay van Rooyen was murdered on Saturday 10 September.
A neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous due to sensitivity of the case, said everything was rather quiet and normal and nothing seemed out of the ordinary on the day of the murder.
The circumstances surrounding Van Rooyen’s death has many questioning whether it was just a random criminal act or something carried out by someone who was close to the victim.
“Her father and her sister came the morning to look for her, Saturday morning, and they did not get any response.
“Our room is right at the back so we don’t see and hear whatever happens in front.”
The Marina da Gama resident added that he only realised something was amiss when police vehicles showed up in the street on Saturday.
“The police was here that whole day probably until the evening at 21:00.”
He describes Van Rooyen as a quiet person who mostly kept to herself.
“She was very quiet and kept much to herself and with the work situation she wasn’t here often, mostly only weekends. I’m not sure if it (the murder) happened sometime during the early hours of Friday night or the Saturday morning.
“It is a very strange case,” he adds.
He further says he tries not to think that a murder occurred so close to home.
“The circumstances make me believe that it was not a random thing.
“Because the car was parked at the house, there was no forced entry into the vehicle or the house. If the circumstances were different then it would have been more worrisome to me.”
Another neighbour in the road said she was at home “minding her own business” when she received a call to ask what was happening with her neighbour.
“I thought they were talking about my other neighbour who had plumbing issues at her house.
“I never knew this neighbour. Only once she came out and I waved and she waved back. It must have happened in the morning because when her father found her she was already cold.”
On Wednesday 14 September Police Minister Bheki Cele visited the home and reportedly handed the case over to the Hawks for further investigation.
According to Muizenberg Police Station commander Col Vassie Naidoo, a relative found the body at around 14:00. “Muizenberg police can confirm that the lifeless body of a 53-year-old prosecutor was discovered by a relative in her house on Saturday afternoon at approximately 14:00. A murder case was opened and is under investigation. No arrests have been made as yet.”
