With her fair skin, green eyes and gorgeous brown hair, Siam Lee was a striking young woman. Siam's mother, Carmen Nan Lee, introduced her daughter to sex work and the pair worked together at a brothel in Durban. The brunette beauty could easily pass for a model and must have turned heads wherever she went.
One of the women who worked with Siam remarked on her loving, kind nature. “I used to watch in disbelief when we were sometimes sitting together and having a drink, and how Siam would put her hand around a fly to protect it, and would then free it just so it didn’t get hurt."
There was no reason to believe that Siam's life would come to an abrupt and brutal end. That is, until the day she vanished from outside the house from which she worked.
Siam went missing from the house in Durban North on January 4 this year and two days later her charred body was found on a farm in New Hanover. A 29-year-old businessman was quickly identified as the prime suspect in the gruesome murder.
The man accused of her murder was known to Siam as well as to the other women who worked with her. He faces 16 counts including the kidnapping of Lee, fraud, crimen injuria and a rape charge unrelated to Lee.
While the full facts of the case have yet to come to light, Siam's mother and friends have to come to terms with their loss.
Siam will never celebrate another Women's Month, another birthday or Christmas. She will never have a chance to realise her true potential. Siam's dreams and any dreams her family and friends had for her died with her.
For Siam's sake and the sake of women everywhere, if you know somebody who has committed an act of violence against a woman Don't Look Away
.
If you know a young woman's life is in danger, Don't Look Away
.
If you are able to help prevent another tragedy, Don't Look Away
.
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