Missing estate agent’s brutal murder shocks industry

Estate agents fear for their own safety after the body of Remax employee Hanle Lategan was discovered in a veld in the Randfontein area.

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Brutal slaying of missing estate agent sends shock waves through the industry​

KGOPI MABOTJA

kgopi.mabotja@inl.co.za​

The hopes of friends, colleagues and family of a missing Remax real estate agent were dashed on Tuesday following police confirmation that the body found lying in the veld in Randfontein was that of Hanle Lategan.

Around 6am on Tuesday, pupils on their way to school made a gruesome discovery when they found the body of a woman lying next to a wetland in the area. The schoolchildren stopped a passing motorist to alert him to their discovery, and police were called.

Lategan was reported missing on Monday at Krugersdorp police station.

Facebook user Richard Witte said the dead woman was on her way to his house with a client around 6pm.

He posted: “Please pray for Hanle Lategan, our estate agent from Remax, she was on her way to bring a client to see our house at 6pm last night and she never arrived. I was the last person she contacted to say that she was on her way.”

For the most part of on Tuesday, police could not positively confirm if the body was that of Lategan.

The 52-year’s body was identified around 3pm by members of her family, according to Randfontein police spokeswoman Captain Appel Ernst.

“The family of Ms Lategan, the Remax estate agent who went missing on Tuesday, positively identified her. There was an attempt to withdraw money from her bank account in Krugersdorp,” she said.

Lategan’s car, a blue Hyundai i10 branded with the company’s colours and her name and cell numbers, was found abandoned in front of the Netcare Krugersdorp Private Hospital.

Fellow estate agents expressed shock on Facebook, saying Lategan’s murder raised a security concern for estate agents and insurance brokers.

Hannelene Kruger wrote: “I am sickened to the core of my being today with the abduction and murder of Hanle Lategan. One thing I know is that we as estate agents will have to rethink our security.

“No more branded cars and no more meeting clients without all documents in place. I am not taking any chances from here on. RIP, Hanle. You are safe in the arms of Jesus now.”

This is the second such incident to happen in the area in the past three weeks. Two insurance brokers were murdered and locked in the boot of their cars.

The body of insurance broker Kevin McAlpine was found in the boot of his car near the Krugersdorp CBD on Thursday, while another insurance broker was found in the boot of the car he was driving three weeks ago in Krugersdorp North.

The Star