Cape Town - A video being widely circulated on social media purporting to show the murder of Free State student Naledi Arcelia Lethoba is actually an old video from Brazil.
The 21-year-old student from Goldfields TVET College's burnt body was found in an open field in Dagbreek, Welkom. Her breasts had been cut off and a knife was stuck in her neck.
Twitter users were outraged by the brutality of the crime which many did not realise bore no relation to Naledi's murder.
The video, which has been doing the rounds since the arrest of a suspect earlier this week, shows two young women stuffing clothes into the mouth of another young woman before brutally stabbing her to death. It is believed that the two attackers as well as the woman filming the vicious murder are gang members and that the victim was targeted because she was a member of a rival gang.
It has since emerged that the incident on the video was released by Brazilian police in the hopes of tracking down three female gang members whose modus operandi is to take selfies before committing crimes as well as live streaming the violent attacks they carry out on their rivals.
According to Free State police spokesperson Stepheng Thakeng Naledi's body was identified by her parents on Friday last week. The accused is a 19-year-old fellow student who was arrested at the college on Tuesday.
He made a brief appearance in the Welkom Magistrate's Court on Thursday. The case was postponed until June 21 for a formal bail application.