Durban - A birthday celebration ended in tragedy when a 19-year-old man was shot in the face in Wentworth.
Leighston Fisher was killed at the weekend at Reigher Road, not far from where his father was murdered 10 years ago.
Leighston’s deeply shocked mother, Magdalean Fisher, 36, on Tuesday told how her son had asked her for some money to go to his friend’s birthday party.
“He was in a good mood and excited. Before he left, I told him he had dressed up nicely and took some pictures of him. He then went out with his friends to go the party.”
She said she heard loud noises but paid no attention to them because she thought they could have been Diwali firecrackers.
Then came banging at her door - it was her son’s friends.
“They told me that Leighston had been shot. I put on my slippers and ran downstairs.”
The mother of three said she was confused as she ran to the scene and had been praying to herself. “I was saying: ‘God no. Not again.’”
Ten years ago, his father was shot around the corner from where Leighston was killed. “When I arrived at the scene, my son was lying on the ground and the guy who had shot him was standing over him and saying it was an accident.”
Her son was taken to hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.
“I want justice for my child,” she said.
Family friend Tasneem Kamaldien, 31, said the shooting had left her shocked. “I was very angry. Why would someone do such a thing to such a young boy? I am very devastated as a mother. Justice has to be done.”
Kamaldien said she had known Leighston since he was five years old.
Ward councillor Aubrey Snyman said a lot of the violence in the area was fuelled by illicit drugs. He said young children were sometimes unable to go to school because of the drug turf wars in the area.
He said problems with violence in the area dated back as the 1960s and the prospects of curbing it appeared “bleak”.
He said there were initiatives by SAPS and the community to try to reduce crime in the area.
SAPS spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said: “The motive of the killing is unknown. Police arrested a 37-year-old man and he was charged for murder.”
Zwane said the suspect had appeared in court, but could not provide details as “the court appearance results are unknown… since the docket is still at court”.
Daily News