Durban -
The family of a woman who was beaten, hacked with an axe and set upon by dogs, allegedly by a man known to her, are praying justice will be served.
The man accused of murdering Nomthandazo Mpangase, of Santombe near Harding, is expected to appear in the Harding Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
“I am a grown man and cry every time I think about this,” said her brother, Mesuli Radebe. “If her killer is set free I don’t know what I would do.”
Radebe on Wednesday showed the Daily News where his youngest sister was killed on Tuesday last week, just metres from her home and the school her two children attend.
“He must have started assaulting her from near the shop. Her shoes and bag were found strewn along the road, all the way up the hill,” said Radebe.
A week later, the only signs of the murder are mud patches on the road where the family had thrown soil over the bloodstains.
“I wish there was another road in and out of this place. Passing here brings back the picture of her lying here,” said Radebe.
He believes his sister was running back home when she was ambushed.
His other sister, Nontsikelelo Radebe, is now looking after the two children, a six-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl.
Nontsikelelo said they knew their mother was dead, but they sometimes asked when she was coming back.
“What do I tell them? How do I explain to them the cruel manner (their) mother’s life was taken?”
“It is still so fresh. Maybe it will get better,” said Nontsikelo as she wept at the sight of the mound of earth marking her sister’s grave.
Nomthandazo was buried on Saturday, next to her mother on a slope behind her home, which is perched on a hill.
Her father, Bernard Radebe who lives in Harding, said that after the funeral on Saturday he had collected photographs of Nomthandazo but left them at home, unable to look at them after seeing his daughter’s maimed body.
Daily News