Hubby on murder charge
Family proves cancer-stricken wife did not commit suicide
AWHIRLWIND romance with a man she had known barely a week before they got engaged – and married just weeks later – has taken a tragic and now surprise twist.
Last month, former Chatsworth hairdresser Nisha Ravikumarie Wentzel, 34, was found dead in her Mpumalanga home, allegedly with severe head injuries, broken ribs and signs of being beaten.
Her devastated Durban family were shocked when police told them that Wentzel, who had bravely fought cancer several times, had taken her own life.
Now, thanks to investigations by a private Pietermaritzburg forensic company, police have reopened the case.
In a stunning development, her husband has been charged with murder.
Shane Wentzel, 34, who worked for a mining company, appeared in the Middelburg High Court last Monday. He was remanded in police custody and is scheduled to appear in court again in January.
Struggling to come to terms with her daughter’s death, Rose Henry said all she wanted was justice.
“My daughter left our Chatsworth home at the age of 21 after qualifying as a hairdresser. She began working in Middelburg where she met Shane,” she told POST.
“They only knew each other for a week before he proposed to her and within a few weeks they were registered,” Henry said.
She added she had seen her daughter only a few times after she married in 2005, but spoke often on the phone.
“Whenever I asked her about her relationship with Shane she would always say they are fine and I must not worry. In 2011, Nisha was diagnosed with cancer and her health was deteriorating. Soon after, the cancer moved to her ovaries and she had to undergo surgery.”
Henry said her daughter was diagnosed with cancer of the intestine this year and underwent another operation.
“When I went to her home to care for her, I noticed he (Shane) was aloof. I questioned her about his behaviour and she told me not to worry. During my stay with her she confided that they were having problems and she wanted a divorce.”
However, Shane’s family had intervened and advised them to go to counselling, she said, adding that this did not work out.
“Nisha had been taking to a lawyer about getting a divorce and he knew about it. On Friday, November 17, a day before her death... the police were called to their home.
“They escorted her to a friend’s house where she spent the night.”
Nisha, she said, had tried to obtain assistance from the courts the next day, “but it was Saturday and the courts were closed. A few hours later I was told my daughter had committed suicide”.
Henry is adamant her daughter would not have killed herself.
According to the autopsy report, Nisha, who worked as an agent for DStv, was badly beaten, her ribs were broken and she sustained severe head injuries. Initial reports by Middelburg police, however, stated that she had committed suicide on November 18.
A relative of Nisha’s then contacted Dawn Gounden and Bevil Carey of KTT forensic investigation in Pietermaritzburg for help as they suspected foul play.
Gounden said the family could not reach Shane, “and given the circumstances I found this to be strange.
“Bevil and I decided to get in touch with her friends who told us... she was in the process of filing for a divorce.” They were unsettled when they also learnt that Nisha had allegedly suffered abuse.
“We told her mother to go to the police station and inform officers that she suspects foul play. We even asked the attorney to draw up a letter confirming she wanted a divorce. The attorney sent the letter to the police station telling them that a formal investigation needs to be conducted into Nisha death.”
Gounden said she had arranged for photographs of Nisha’s body and injuries to be taken at the funeral parlour.
“From looking at the pictures of her injuries we compiled a profile on her injuries and submitted it to the attorney for further investigations. We waited for police to take action, but received no joy. Bevil was in the process of reporting them to the Ipid (Independent Police Investigative Directorate) and the minister of police,” she said.
“We became concerned because Shane had a passport and we were afraid he might leave the country. We told Rose again to contact police with the evidence we have and they eventually listened to her. The case was reopened a few days later and Shane was arrested.”
Gounden, who is also a community activist for women, feared this may be a case of battered woman syndrome.
“It is a mental disorder that develops in victims of domestic violence as a result of serious, long-term abuse. It is dangerous because it can lead to one being helpless, or even psychological paralysis – where the victim becomes so depressed, defeated, and passive that she believes she is incapable of leaving the abusive situation,” she said.
“If there’s a history of violence in the marriage or union, it’s also known that the most dangerous time of a woman’s life is when she tries to leave.”
Middelburg SAPS confirmed that a case of murder was now being investigated.
Shane’s family declined to comment.