The mother of Sharisha Chauhan this week told the Western Cape High Court the family still do not have closure regarding the death of their daughter - and they never will.
Minakshi Deva was testifying in aggravation of sentence in the murder and double rape trial of Taariq Phillips, who was acquitted in September of the murder of Chauhan but found guilty on two counts of rape.
Phillips and Chauhan, his then-girlfriend, were part of a group of friends who attended a rave party at the Le Bac Estate in Paarl on New Year’s Eve, 2013, when Chauhan became ill in the early hours of January 1, 2014.
She was taken to the couple’s tent and after the pair were alone for some time, Chauhan started having seizures.
Chauhan was transported to the Paarl MediClinic where she died later that day.
Phillips initially faced a charge of murder and two counts of rape.
His defence was that the couple had taken LSD and MDMA, but toxicology tests found no traces of drugs in Chauhan’s the blood and urine.
She was 21 and had completed her third year of law at UWC.
Sentencing procedures are under way. The State is asking for an 18-year prison sentence for Phillips for the two counts of rape.
Deva testified that the past four years had been the most traumatic for the family.
“Sharisha has grandparents who are in their 70s and 80s and they really didn’t have to go through this,” she said, fighting back tears.
Phillips sat with his hands clasped on his chin and stared at Deva as she told the court of losing her only daughter “in this manner”.
Deva also expressed her disappointed that Phillips refused to testify in the trial, saying he was the only person who really knew what happened in the tent.
“I expected Taariq to come forward and explain. Instead, he slandered her name to save his own. I have no respect for him,” said Deva.
Phillips’s defence has been that Chauhan became aroused in the tent and begged him for “rough” sex
which, according to his statement, he refused.
Deva also denied her daughter had experimented with drugs before, as Phillips told during the trial.
The court also heard from Malika Adams, a friend of Phillips for 14 years.
She described him as a loving and caring person who would do anything for those he loved and cared for.
“Taariq and Sharisha had a very loving relationship. She even called him ‘my T’,” said Adams adding the couple were talking marriage.
Adams also told the court that her friend was now a “broken man” because of Chauhan’s death and would never be the same again.
State prosecutor Esna Erasmus asked Adams about her views on rape and she said she was “against it”.
Arguments in mitigation and aggravation of sentencing will continue next week.