Mom calls for killer boyfriends to be given harsher sentences
“GIVE them heavy sentences; set an example, then we won’t have this many women dying at the hands of their boyfriends and husbands.”
These are the words of Charmaine Pillay, whose daughter Annelene, 26, was shot dead by her ex-boyfriend outside her work in 2016.
Pillay was speaking to The Independent on Saturday regarding Mangosuthu University of Technology student Zolile Khumalo, 21, who was allegedly also shot dead by her ex-boyfriend after she ended her relationship with him.
Pillay believes that while heftier sentences might deter others from killing their lovers, it would certainly not bring back the lives that have been lost.
“It’s horrifying the way these types of killings are getting out of hand and no justice can bring our daughters back.
“People like that don’t change, no matter how much time they spend behind bars.”
On Monday, Tyrone Pillay, 33, was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment in the Durban High Court for killing Annelene. Her killing was captured by a CCTV camera as she was leaving her workplace on South Coast Road.
She was shot several times and the footage of the murder went viral on social media.
Pillay also passed on her condolences to the Khumalo family, who bury their daughter in Eshowe today.
Khumalo, a first-year quantity surveying student, was shot dead in her room at the university’s Lonsdale residence last Tuesday, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend, 23-year-old Thabani Mzolo.
He has been charged with Khumalo’s murder.
It’s alleged by a friend of Khumalo’s, who spoke to The Independent on Saturday, that she tried to escape from Mzolo through the window of her first-floor room, while students from a residence across the road thought she was trying to jump off the building.
Mzolo is back in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on May 17.
After his first appearance amid a number of journalists and photographers, Mzolo imitated pulling the trigger of a gun as he walked back down to the cells from the dock – which action went viral on social media.
On Thursday, when he again appeared in court, he was much more reserved, dressed conservatively in a blue suit.
During his appearance, it emerged that he had a previous conviction for assault.
He is charged with murder and being in possession of a prohibited firearm.