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Lovers’ quarrel ends in suicide

- MURRAY SWART STAFF REPORTER

A LOVERS’ quarrel ended in tragedy when the body of a 43-yearold man was found hanging in a house in Promised Land yesterday morning.

The body of Willem Seekoei was found by his girlfriend, Agnes Morobane, shortly after 10am yesterday, following what is believed to have been a suicide.

Morobane looked on in disbelief as police forensic officials removed the body of her lover from the house that the couple were intending to share with her seven-year-old child upon its completion.

According to Morobane, the couple had quarrelled over the deceased’s infidelity, resulting in a physical confrontat­ion, before they went their separate ways on Saturday.

She added that she had disregarde­d Seekoei’s attempts to contact her following the altercatio­n and had received several messages from him. The last of these was sent just a matter of hours before his body was discovered yesterday.

“We have been together for over a year and in that time we have had a number of fights about other women,” Morobane said yesterday. “Saturday was not the first time that he hit me. He has even threatened to kill me before, so when I saw that he was trying to contact me, I was too scared to answer.”

Morobane said that she had received text messages from the deceased, who worked as a machine operator in Kuruman during the week, on Sunday, in which he expressed his intention to commit suicide.

“He told me to forget about him and that he was going to kill himself (vergeet van my. Ek maak my dood). I saw that he tried to phone me but didn’t answer.

“He also sent a number of messages. The last one came at 2.15am this morning.

“When I went to the house, after 10am, I found him hanging there. We were going to move into that house, with my child, as soon as work on the property was completed, but after what has happened I won’t be able to live there.”

Bianca Maseko lives next door to the couple’s house in Promised Land and was the first person to speak to Morobane after she had discovered her partner’s body.

“I was busy cleaning when I saw Agnes,” said Maseko. “She was trembling and in a state of shock when she told me what had happened. She asked me to go and see if Willem was still alive but I told her I was afraid to go into the house where he was hanging and that she should call the police.

“The couple had fought on previous occasions but we are all shocked by what has happened.”

Police had not commented at the time of going to press last night.

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 ??  ?? DISTRAUGHT: Agnes Morobane clutches onto a pole after finding her boyfriend, Willem Seekoei (inset) hanging from the rafters of the house the couple were going to share in Phutunang yesterday morning.
Picture: Soraya Crowie
DISTRAUGHT: Agnes Morobane clutches onto a pole after finding her boyfriend, Willem Seekoei (inset) hanging from the rafters of the house the couple were going to share in Phutunang yesterday morning. Picture: Soraya Crowie

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