Woman in hiding stabbed to death

Published Oct 12, 2015

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Cape Town - A Cape Town woman has been stabbed to death, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend who stalked her for weeks.

The 24-year-old mom had been hiding at the Saartjie Baartman Centre for four months after her ex-boyfriend threw drain cleaner in her face.

But last week, the wanted man apparently tracked down Nikita Lewis and stabbed her 18 times at a corner shop in Manenberg, in full view of shocked witnesses.

Police arrested Lloyd Simba Hillary at the murder scene after the shop owner prevented him from fleeing.

On Friday at about 5pm, Lewis and three other women had gone to the Pick n Save Superette, just one block away from the place of safety.

Bangladeshi shop owner Ahmed Mohamed Jahid, 36, said a man had grabbed Nikita and started dragging her out of the store.

A traumatised Jahid said they all tried to help Lewis.

“She fought him off. She beat him and he fell and smashed the cellphone counter. He hit her harder, but she fought for her life, screaming for me to call the police.

“He grabbed her, mounted her and stabbed and stabbed until she did not make any more sounds.”

He said as the other women ran for help, he stayed with the attacker who was at the back of the store where Lewis had fled.

“I had my stick and I hit him,” said Jahid.

“He wanted to run abut I kept him inside until the road police [traffic officers] came to detain him.

“He stopped fighting then and just said over and over, ‘She did this, she made me do this.’”

Witnesses said Lewis screamed for people to run and even tried to stop Hillary from attacking others.

Hillary was wanted by police after he threw drain cleaner in Lewis’s face after she threatened to leave him in June.

She had feared for her life, as well as that of her five-year-old son from a previous relationship and her mother.

A close friend of Lewiw’s at Saartjie Baartman said she had “really loved” Hillary, but wanted to protect her family.

The woman said when they told the little boy his mom had been killed, he screamed: “I told her not to go, I told her, I told her!”

Bonita Lewis said her daughter was just starting to rebuild her life: “My daughter was changing her life.

“I am sad that she will never see her son grow up. I want justice to be served. She did not deserve this.”

At the Saartjie Baartman Centre, director Shaheema McLeod said they are deeply saddened by the incident.

McLeod said: “As part of the Centre’s ongoing education and awareness drive, clients are cautioned around the dangers of leaving the centre as we, nor any other entity, are not able to protect them once they leave the premises.”

Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut said Hillary is due to appear in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court on Monday on a charge of murder.

Daily Voice

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