Comedian’s stepdad shot mother

877 Comedian Trevor Noah. 271009. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

877 Comedian Trevor Noah. 271009. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

Published Mar 5, 2012

Share

Trevor Noah’s nightmare family life has been revealed as his stepfather faces sentencing for shooting the comedian’s mother and leaving her for dead.

The City Press has reported how the funnyman was forced to turn his back on his mother, whose suffering he could no longer bear to witness.

And when he confronted his former stepfather after he repeatedly shot his mother, Ngisaveni Shingange threatened to kill him.

These claims are contained in papers before the High Court in Johannesburg, where Shingange applied to have his divorce from Nombuyiselo Noah rescinded.

On Thursday, Shingange’s house will be auctioned to cover his ex-wife’s legal costs, which he has been ordered to pay.

And later this week, he will be sentenced in the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court, where he was found guilty of attempted murder.

In court papers, Nombuyiselo, 52, an estate agent, tells of years of abuse at Shingange’s hands.

She divorced him in 1996, but they continued to live together in Highlands North.

Nombuyiselo says Trevor stopped visiting her at this time as it was too much for him to see his mother going through hell.

In court papers, she said her former husband beat her with old bicycle frames in public and in front of her staff, slapped her and chased her down the street as she fled with their youngest child.

Moving away in 2009, she became engaged to current husband, Sfiso Khoza, which nearly cost both their lives.

She says Shingange tracked her down and shot her in the back and face, shattering her jaw, piercing her skull, nose and ear, and leaving her unable to speak properly.

Trevor paid her private hospital bills and she says she was treated under a different name because she feared Shingange would go there to “finish the job”.

After the shooting, when Trevor phoned his former stepfather to remonstrate with him, “Shingange advised Trevor that he was also coming after Trevor to kill him”.

The comedian’s agent Gaenor Becker says her client has refused to comment.

* This article was published in the Daily Voice

Related Topics: