Johannesburg - A litany of domestic crises allegedly led to a grandfather locking himself and his 4-year-old grandson inside a car last week and setting it alight.
This is according to Jujuthlal Jhawirpersad’s brother, Ishwarlall, who broke the family’s silence on Monday to give their side of the story as to why Jujuthlal killed his grandson Shivan Maharaj and himself.
They were found burnt beyond recognition inside the 64-year-old’s green Toyota Camry on a stretch of veld in Azaadville on the West Rand.
The close-knit community has been left devastated by the murder-suicide while trying to comprehend how the child’s life could have been taken so brutally.
But Ishwarlall claimed that his brother’s own family caused him to snap and commit the horrendous crime.
Ishwarlall alleges there was verbal abuse, assault threats as well as threats to cut off one or other member of the family behind the tragedy.
They all lived together with Shivan in the house that Jujuthlal owned in the suburb.
Issues that plagued the household were centred on his wife Indira, who was about 16 years younger than her husband.
Ishwarlall said he had opened his house to the family and looked after Shivan when they were at work.
The family’s problem’s took a deadly turn on Wednesday when Jujuthlal apparently had had enough and told his daughter and son-in-law to find another place to stay.
But the couple said they were not going to leave Indira behind, and that allegedly caused Jujuthlal to snap.
“They took my wife, so I’ll take their son, I’ll make them suffer like they made me suffer,” were some of the final words that Jujuthlal reportedly uttered to Ishwarlall, before saying he loved him and that he should pray for him.
A frazzled Ishwarlall then received an alarming call from his frantic niece, asking if he knew where her father was as he was planning to kill Shivan and himself.
“My niece said her father told her that his car would be burning near the Arc (sports centre) and that there will be fun in Azaadville.”
Ishwarlall started searching for the pair, but by the time he got to the veld, the car was in flames.
“This was such a sad thing to have happened. All my brother wanted was love from his family.”
He believes Jujuthlal was drunk at the time and used petrol to set the car alight.
One of Indira’s friends, Roshila Patel*, painted a different picture of the man who took his and his grandson’s life.
She admitted to the Saturday Star on Friday, that the family had been having problems.
“The family have had many problems these past few months. Indira always called me when she had problems. She told me recently that her husband had been acting psychotic and that he had tried to stab her with a knife not long ago.”
Patel said Jujuthlal had battled depression. He had a serious alcohol problem and had become “a very jealous man”.
* Not her real name
The Star