Cape Town - Two hundred angry, pink-wearing residents protested outside the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday morning as the two men accused of killing Kuils River mother Zarah Hector made their second appearance.
Ronaldo van Rooyen and Tafiq Ibrahim, both in their 20s, made a brief appearance in a packed court before their bail proceedings were postponed to April 21.
Dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase “Justice for Zarah” and an image of the murdered 32-year-old mother, Hector’s family and friends were joined by about 100 members of the Community Women Action Group.
Van Rooyen and Ibrahim have been charged with murder and defeating the ends of justice for allegedly killing the mother-of-two.
Hector was last seen as she left work at Oostenberg Lodge in Kuils River before her shift started on March 15.
The BMW Z3 she was driving, which allegedly belongs to her boyfriend, was later found stripped in Observatory.
Hector’s decomposing body was found in the Groot Drakenstein area, nine days after she went missing.
Police are keeping mum on the details of he death but it’s believed she had been beaten to death with a hammer.
Her body was cremated and her funeral was held last week.
Van Rooyen and Ibrahim were arrested shortly after Hector’s body was discovered.
Van Rooyen’s father, a former policeman, confirmed to the Daily Voice that his son knew Zarah, and she was a regular visitor to their house in Sarepta.
Prosecutor Vincent Adriaanse previously said the State would oppose bail for both of the accused.
While the two suspects appear to have no previous convictions, the State revealed that Van Rooyen has also been charged for an unrelated armed robbery, allegedly committed with a separate accomplice.
Aldrich Burmeister, a friend of Hector’s family, said they expected more residents at the next appearance later this month.
He said: “I made posters with the phrase ‘No bail, stay in jail’, which is what all of us are hoping for.
“This protest was organised at the last minute. We only got the go-ahead moments before the trial and were rushed, but we are happy that some community members such as the women from the Community Women Action (group) are here.
“The fact that they are matching with us with their pink T-shirts is amazing.”
Burmeister said the significance of the pink was that it represented women’s rights and that Hector apparently wore pink nail polish on the day of her death.
The vice-chairwoman of Community Women Action, Violet Mnyimba, said the organisation had delivered a petition to the court calling for no bail for the accused.
She said: “Women and children are being targeted in our communities. There seems to be a war. It cannot go on like this.”
Mnyimba confirmed that the organisation had attended the appearance of the four men accused of raping and robbing Franziska Blöchliger, at the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court. That case was postponed to April 28.
Another member of the organisation, Lavona Coerecuis, said: “We are appalled as to why these incidents are occurring in our community so frequently. It is like a cancer that is spreading.
“We support all (protests at) cases that are similar to this one, where a woman is killed or sexually abused.
“One death is too much. We stand united with all the women and families that are going through this ordeal,” she said.
The Hector family was very emotional and wept outside court.
The victim’s brother Brendan, wiping tears from his eyes, said: “We cannot cope, the family is not coping, that is why my mother will never come to court.”[email protected]
Cape Argus and Daily Voice