DURBAN - FLOWERS, teddy bears and posters in memory of murdered Siam Lee were this week placed outside a house on Margaret Maytom Road.
Lee was abducted from the Durban North property, where a brothel was allegedly being run, on January 4. Her charred remains were found on a farm in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands two days later.
Tired of waiting for Lee’s funeral, supporters of the #JusticeforSiam group decided to set-up a memorial wall.
Continuous delays with the DNA analysis of Lee’s remains has prevented her mother,
Carmen Nan Lee, from giving her daughter a dignified send-off, said a friend of the family, Sue Foster.
Lee’s alleged killer, a 29-year-old male, was arrested on January 17 and made a brief appearance in the Durban Magistrate’s Court this week.
The accused has since been moved from the SAPS Durban North’s holding cells and is being detained at the Westville Prison.
He was charged with several offences including murder, rape (linked to another case) crimen injuria and kidnapping. His formal bail hearing will take place on March 7
and 8.
Foster said that Carmen was grateful and touched by the public support she had been receiving.
“When she went to the house to look at the memorial wall, she burst into tears. She took some of the roses away with her in remembrance of her daughter,” said Foster.
She said it got harder for Carmen each day, not being able to lay her daughter to rest.
Foster, along with other #JusticeForSiam supporters, also started an online petition to ensure the accused in the matter was denied bail.
The petition has since
garnered more than 3400
signatures.
It reads: “I’m appealing to the entire nation not to allow an alleged killer bail or freedom for the horrendous alleged murder of Siam Lee. Let's stand together as one. Let your voice be heard!”
Foster hopes to hand it over to magistrate Mohamed Motala at the bail hearing. She said she hoped she would reach 10 000 signatures before the bail hearing.