PinkNews reports that a prominent female football player, Midfielder Eudy Simelane, 31, was gang-raped and murdered in South Africa last week. According to activist, she was the victim of homophobic violence.

“We believe that it is a homophobic hate crime simply by the fact that the victim in this case was a well known lesbian,” Carrie Shelver of People Opposed to Women Abuse told the South African Broadcasting Company. was buried earlier this week.

Ms Simelane was returning home from a night out with friends in Kwatema, near Johannesburg, when she was reportedly targeted by a gang of youths. Her body, which showed signs of repeated stabbings and rape, was found on open ground nearby.

The five young men  (K. Magabhula, J. Mahlangu, T. Mvuba, T. Pitja and T. Phithi) appeared in court yesterday, but had nothing to say to the State Prosecutor’s motion for bail to be denied, following questions by the Magistrate.

The girlfriend of the late Banyana Banyana player Eudy Simelane wishes she was raped and killed like her partner. ”I feel the pain she felt when they raped and stabbed her to death. It’s better if they come to rape and kill me like they did with her,” Sibongile Pearl Vilakazi said on Monday as members of the gay and lesbian community battled to comfort her. 

This is not the first time lesbians have been attacked and murdered in the African country. On July 7, 2007, two lesbian women, 34 year old Sizakele Sigasa and 23 year old Salome Masooa, were raped, tortured and killed in Meadowlands, Soweto. And on February 4, 2006, lesbian Zoliswa Nonkonyane was murdered by a mob of 20 men.

Neither of these cases have been solved.