Andiswa Ndesana, the devastated mother of Sibonokuhle Ndesana, 19, who was brutally murdered in Philippi in December, wants to know what really happened to her precious daughter.
The 36-year-old mother of two said she received news on Tuesday December 26 that her first-born child was dead.
Her daughter had visited her boyfriend and relatives in Philippi to spend Christmas with them. The boyfriend told Ms Ndesana that he and Sibonokuhle had been ambushed on their way back from friends and that Sibonokuhle had been hit with a golf stick by three criminals who wanted to rob them.
He told her he had taken Sibonokuhle home, planning to assess her injuries the following morning as they were both drunk.
Her daughter’s friends, however, told Ms Ndesana that her boyfriend had assaulted her.
The day after the attack, said Ms Ndesana, Sibonokuhle passed away and her boyfriend was arrested, but later released again.
Nyanga police spokeswoman, Captain Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi, confirmed that the boyfriend, 20-year-old Zukile Phuphu, had been arrested and charged with murder in December and appeared in Athlone Magistrate’s Court but was released because he could not be linked to the case. Further investigations, however, resulted to him re-appearing in the same court last Wednesday, March 3, once again facing a murder charge.
Meanwhile Ms Ndesana is battling to come to terms with her grief and the lack of answers. “I tried to overdose pills and kill myself because this has been too much for me to take,” she told Vukani.
Captain Sitshitshi, however, assured Vukani that the investigation was continuing and urged the family to understand that even though a suspect is not in jail, it does not mean the case has been closed. She added that the investigating officer had been in contact with the family to keep them updated.
