Sunday Times

‘I’ve murdered my son’

- SYLVIA WALKER

The day before Abie’s death, Ellen had planned to go shopping for jeans, accompanie­d by her husband Odneal. Abie was around and Ellen knew he would be hungry. She told him he could come in to get something to eat, reasoning that he would get in through the kitchen window anyway while they were out.

There was nothing of value left to steal in the house. The little they had, Ellen kept in her bedroom. She locked the bedroom door, as she always did, and set off. Shortly after leaving, Odneal realised that he had left his wallet at home, so they turned around.

As they walked towards their house, Abie came dashing out with two carrier bags. Ellen could see that the bedroom door had been broken open, and she confronted Abie. Odneal was livid and an argument ensued. Ellen was worn out — Abie had betrayed her trust yet again.

As always, Ellen was caught in the middle — pacifying Odneal and reprimandi­ng Abie, wanting to know why he hadn’t listened to her. Eventually, calm prevailed and Abie ran off down the street.

That evening, as Ellen made dinner, she expected Abie to be calling at the window for food, with his usual “Mammie, ek is honger”. But when he returned at around 8pm, he started kicking the back door, demanding money.

Ellen told him to stop and he eventually left. She climbed into bed but couldn’t fall asleep. She lay in fear, as on so many nights, expecting Abie to appear at her bedroom window at any moment, shouting and demanding money.

As Ellen lay dozing in the early hours of the morning of Wednesday, September 12 2007, she heard Abie jump over the wall into the back yard.

She decided she was going to talk to him again that day. She had to keep trying to get through to her child, to make him see the terrible life he was leading and the effect it was having on her and the family.

She was completely depleted, with no one to help her and nowhere to turn. On the one hand, she was Abie’s mother. She had given birth to him and raised him with love and care. On the other, he was a monster who was killing her one day at a time, stripping her of all dignity.

As Ellen walked into Abie’s shed, she saw him lying on the floor. He was of slender build — 1.71m tall and weighing around 58kg. She calmly asked him why he wasn’t lying on the bed. He didn’t reply. She asked him if he wanted some tea. Again he didn’t reply, just grunted. Ellen told him: “OK, go and lie on the bed; I will bring you some tea.”

She made the tea and took it to Abie. He was now on the bed, and Ellen placed the cup next to him. Abie was motionless, and Ellen stood for a while, just staring at him. She felt nothing. Over the past seven years, Abie had evoked all the memories of abuse and fear that she had experience­d as a child.

Odneal’s voice snapped her out of her trance. He was calling her, saying he was ready to leave for work. Ellen went inside the house to say goodbye to him, then followed him to the front gate, locking up after he left. Going back inside, she locked the front door of the house and turned around to go back to Abie.

As she walked through the house, she saw a rope lying in the living area. She picked it up and went back to Abie’s shed. Abie was lying on the bed, the tea untouched. Ellen stood looking at him. His eyes were closed — he appeared to be sleeping.

Without thinking, Ellen tied a loop with a knot in one end of the rope, and slipped the loose end through the loop, making a noose. Mechanical­ly, she manoeuvred this over Abie’s head.

As she moved to the top end of the bed with the loose piece of rope in her hand, she pulled it taut. Abie’s eyes flew open in shock as he felt the rope tighten around his neck, and Ellen asked him calmly: “Abie, tell me why you do not stop your nonsense?”

Abie promised not to do it again. Ellen had heard this many times before. She started wrapping the rope around the bedpost, pulling it tighter around his throat.

Abie’s arms flailed wildly, his head trapped by the tightening rope. His hand reached to the floor, finding a plank, which he tried desperatel­y to swing at his mother.

Ellen told her son to put the plank down, she just wanted to talk to him. His response was to swear at her. Ellen said, “OK” and pulled the rope even tighter around the bedpost. Abie was swinging the plank at Ellen, coming dangerousl­y close to hitting her, then it dropped from his hand.

The rope was cutting into Ellen’s hand. There was an old T-shirt lying on the floor, which she wrapped around her hand before pulling the rope tight again. Abie’s struggles grew weaker. With the tip of his tongue clenched between his teeth, he breathed his last breath.

Ellen held the rope tight, closing her eyes and praying, “Father, forgive me for what I have done.” A great sense of relief washed over her.

After a few minutes, Ellen unwrapped the rope from her hand and went to get ready for work. Just before leaving the house, she checked on Abie. He looked very peaceful — as if he were asleep, she testified at her trial.

She walked to the station and caught the train to work. At the time, she was employed at Fish Hoek Home Nursing as a caregiver for elderly people. At work, one of her colleagues noticed that something was amiss, and asked Ellen if she was all right. She said, yes, she was fine. They made a cup of coffee and sat down for a chat, as was their habit every morning.

Then Ellen told her colleague: “Actually, everything is not all right. I’ve murdered my son.” Her colleague looked at her in disbelief. Ellen repeated her statement, and her colleague jumped up screaming, running to call their senior.

Finishing her cup of coffee, Ellen related the whole story to her senior, and then asked to be taken to the police station to give herself up. She was adamant that she had committed a murder and needed to report it. She wanted to accept full responsibi­lity.

Ellen was taken to Kirstenhof police station, where she told her story. They said that the case was not within their jurisdicti­on, and she was sent to Steenberg police station. There, she calmly gave a statement to the officer on duty and was charged with murder.

Odneal Pakkies was shocked when he heard the news. If anything, he had thought that either he or Rudolph, Abie’s brother, would have been driven to that point, but not Ellen, his quiet, loving wife. Although he had thought of hiring a hit man to end Abie’s life, he had never considered that Ellen might be driven to this extreme.

Both Rudolph and Odneal stood by Ellen in the ensuing months. She was taken into custody and transferre­d to Pollsmoor Prison, where she spent two weeks while she awaited bail. She was eventually granted bail of R1,000. Her employer paid half and Odneal the other half. A few days later, Ellen read the tribute to Abie at his funeral.

At the trial, a clinical psychologi­st summed up: “Under that type of extreme circumstan­ces, people reach what is known as the limit situation … the crime must be seen in the context of that desperatio­n.”

 ??  ?? Jill Levenberg as Ellen Pakkies on set during the filming of ‘Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story’.
Jill Levenberg as Ellen Pakkies on set during the filming of ‘Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story’.
 ??  ?? In ‘Ellen’, the film based on Ellen Pakkies’ traumatic story, the role of her drug-addict son is played by Jarrid Geduld, left. Pakkies is played by Jill Levenberg, right.
In ‘Ellen’, the film based on Ellen Pakkies’ traumatic story, the role of her drug-addict son is played by Jarrid Geduld, left. Pakkies is played by Jill Levenberg, right.
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from South Africa