Durban — Chatsworth pensioner Jinsee Ram, a Brahman devotee for over two decades, was the glue that held her family together, who were still battling to come to terms with her murder.
This was according to her grandson, Shayuur Prithipaul, who last saw her four days before she was killed in her home during a robbery in 2020.
Shayuur spoke outside the Durban High Court after Judge Mohini Moodley sentenced Bheki Msomi to life imprisonment for the murder.
While Msomi was not the one who killed Ram, he had been present at the time of her killing and had prevented her daughter, who walked in on the act, from stopping it.
On the day of the murder and robbery, Msomi had entered the Ram home with Simphiwe Cele, Mthethunzima “Stars” Mpepho and Luvo Mtshezane.
Cele was employed by the Ram family and was deemed unfit to stand trial and remains at a state psychiatric hospital. It was Cele who strangled Ram in the presence of Msomi.
Mpepho, who was arrested by the police, was a Section 204 State witness and Mtshezane died on the run.
The court sentenced Msomi to 15 years for the robbery with aggravated circumstances and 12 years for the attempted murder.
Describing the time he spent with his grandmother, just days before her killing, Shayuur said he had gone to the house to pick up mail and she sat him down over a cup of tea.
“She made fried chips, we sat and talked not knowing it would be the last two hours I was spending with her.
“Thank God he (Msomi) got life – when we lost her everything came to a standstill, everyone’s heads were not in the right space for a good couple of years. It’s taken a toll on all of us. She was the glue in the family, no doubt about that. People still talk about what a great person she was,” he said.
Ram’s husband, Bobby Ram, said she was an inspiration to their two sons, daughter and four grandchildren.
“There’s nothing we can do now, she has left us but she has left us with good memories. She is missed by her family and others in the community as well. I can’t understand why they did that to her because she was defenceless. She didn’t stand a chance she was a weak and old person.”
Ram, whose Brahman initiation name was Jin Dhookiaradha Bobby, was well known at the Hari Krishna Escombe Temple.
“She never spoke anything ill of anyone. She loved and cared for people. It wasn’t an easy life when we got married, but it was through her hard work and determination that we built the life we had for our children. We started life together very young, she was the stronghold of the family …” he said.
After Msomi’s sentence, his lawyer, Sipho Radebe, applied for leave to apply for an appeal on the grounds that another court would come to a different conclusion.
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