Pictures of murdered Philippi teen shock her family

Published Jun 22, 2020

Share

Cape Town – As attacks on young women and children continue to spike - the latest incident being the murder of 17-year-old Amahle Quku from Philippi - a former newspaper editor and parolee is using his experience of how he killed his fiancée in the hope of deterring would-be killers.  

The last time Amahle’s parents saw her alive was when she was rushing to finish chores as she was going to visit friends on Friday.

The Philippi family saw the teen’s naked body and messages of condolence trending on Facebook only hours later.

Shocked residents of Albert Luthuli Street in Browns Farm had woken up to the grim discovery at about 7pm on Saturday.

Amahle, a Grade 11 pupil at Sinethemba High School fondly known by her community as Pretty, is believed to have been raped before being dumped.

Police spokesperson Andrè Traut said a man was detained and the circumstances leading to her death were being investigated by Nyanga police.

“The exact cause of her death is yet to be determined. Our investigation led to the arrest of a man in his twenties who is detained for questioning regarding the murder.The investigation is still under way and further details cannot be disclosed at this stage,” said Traut.

Amehle’s traumatised mother, Mandulele, said when she went to bed without seeing her daughter on Friday she thought Amahle had slept at a friend’s house.

“When she goes out with friends or visits them, sometimes she sleeps over and does not say. I would shout at her for that, so when I woke up Saturday morning and couldn’t find her I thought she did that again.

“Instead, her brother showed me a naked picture of her and some pictures in her school uniform and people expressing anger saying she had been raped, killed and dragged there where the body was found. 

"My older daughter also said she had been receiving calls from distraught relatives wanting confirmation,” she said.

Amahle Quku’s aunt Phumeza Quku and mother Mandulele Quku Picture: Ayanda Ndamane / African News Agency (ANA)

“According to three of her friends, they were drinking and having fun at a house with two young males they know. The suspect who was detained asked Amahle to accompany him to buy a few things at a nearby shop.

“They never returned to the house. Her friends assumed that she had maybe decided to go home. What hurt us most was seeing her naked body on social media. It looked like she was bashed with bricks,” she said.

Mandulele’s family depends on the money she makes from brewing and selling traditional beer.

With lockdown, her business has suffered and they cannot afford to start preparing for the funeral or relocate her daughter’s body from Salt River Mortuary to a local funeral parlour.

“We hear that people who rape and kill women still walk out free from prison. We are hoping that this does not happen.

“It would kill our spirits if justice should not be served.”

After murdering his partner in 2008, parolee and former newspaper editor Mcebisi Ndama is using his story in the hopes of deterring others from doing what he did.

In a jealous rage, he stabbed his ex-fiancée multiple times, killing her, before drinking poison in an attempt to end his own life. He survived the suicide attempted and went on to make a confession to police and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

He is now out on parole and said he is sharing his story in the hope that it would help men who were headed in the same direction by launching the “Please Do Not Kill Her” campaign.

“I murdered a woman I professed to love intensely. My obsession with her led me to kill her after she broke up with me. 

"I never thought I would one day kill her and she never would have thought that I would kill her. My hands that once caressed her body are the same hands that shed her blood.”

Ndama said on the fateful day he saw his ex-fiancée with another man, he stabbed and injured the man before stabbing and killing her. He then drank rat poison, but after spending seven days in hospital made a full confession.

“I told the judge that I deserved to die as well. I said I could not live with what I had done and if there was a death penalty I said I strongly deserved it. I cursed the night when I was conceived. If I was not born, my fiancé would be alive and the man would never have been stabbed.”

He said after serving time in jail and speaking to other men who killed their partners, he found a common pattern.

Senior strategic adviser Bafana Khumalo said Sonke also has a programme in which prisoners were encouraged to share their stories as a means to help rehabilitate others.

“We believe in rehabilitative justice and we encourage this by former prisoners to motivate other young men not to fall into the same traps they did. We like positive stories, where men own up and take responsibility and share stories that can benefit future generations.”

Khumalo said there were mixed feelings in the public about this, as other parolees and former inmates simply picked up where they left off.

Anyone wishing to assist the family with funeral preparations can contact Amahle’s sister Lusindiso on 071 733 6720. To contact Ndama, call 072 905 7544, or email [email protected]

Cape Times

Related Topics: