Durban - Residents of Chatsworth, fed up with violent crime, will picket outside court where a 24-year-old trainee estate agent is due to appear for the murder and attempted murder of a retired Silverglen couple.
Beloved Southlands Secondary School principal Gona Pillay was stabbed to death in her home last week. Her husband survived and raised the alarm.
The couple were attacked by four men who pretended to be coming to view their home which was for sale.
The trainee estate agent was arrested the following day and the couple’s Mercedes-Benz recovered in uMbumbulu, south of Durban, along with the weapon believed to have been used in the stabbings. On Saturday night, a 30-year-old man was arrested in the same area and will appear in court once charged, said police. Hundreds of people are expected to picket outside the Chatsworth Magistrate’s Court today when the trainee estate agent appears on charges of house robbery, murder and attempted murder.
One of the picket organisers, the chairman of the Bayview CPF, Brandon Pillay, said they were going “to give a voice to Mrs Pillay”.
“It is important for the community to register their objection to bail for this heinous crime. We hope the State will do everything it can to ensure the suspect faces the full might of the law.
“The community is going out there to show how angry we are about this, especially because the Pillays were betrayed by a person in a position of trust,” he said.
Messages of condolence continue to pour in and a memorial Facebook page has been established for Gona Pillay.