Durban -
A Merebank mother was found murdered at daybreak on Tuesday after being kidnapped from her home at about 9.30pm on Monday by robbers.
They had demanded that she drive her car for them so that they could escape.
The murdered woman, Charmaine Naidoo, 32, sent her sister, Chinky Naidoo, a BBM saying she was tired and was about to go to bed at 9.20pm.
On Tuesday, Naidoo’s husband, Alvin Maistry, who runs a supermarket in Jacobs with his wife, said he was at work when the robbers struck.
There were five children in the house, the youngest aged 10 and the eldest 18, as well as a 28-year-old relative.
“The children heard the gate opening then the door, and screamed.
“The robbers held my whole family at gunpoint then locked the children in a room while they loaded up the stolen goods in her car,” he said.
But they couldn’t get the car started and went back for Charmaine.
That was the last time the family saw her alive.
“She was a go-getter who kept the fire burning. I am going to sell my business now. It’s not worth it.
“It’s not worth going on without her,” an emotional Naidoo said on Tuesday.
Charmaine’s body was found in KwaMakhutha on Tuesday morning. Her throat had been slit.
Neighbour Neville Bismath said he had heard the children screaming, but thought they were playing around.
But when it happened a second time, he knew something was wrong and pressed his panic button and called the police.
“Charmaine was such a nice person. The children in the house were not all her own but she still took care of them,” he said.
Yusuf Vawda, who said he was a community leader, said the area was beset by crime.
Police spokesman Thulani Zwane said the family had been attacked by two men at gunpoint.
Charmaine’s car was recovered in the Isipingo area. No arrests have been made.
The Mercury