Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Vanished, and found, metres from home
Grade 6 Lavender Hill schoolgirl mourned
ON AN UNREMARKABLE Friday afternoon, Rene Tracey Roman vanished.
She came home from school, Levana Primary in Lavender Hill, about 2pm, and was supposed to have accompanied a family friend to fetch her little sister from crèche.
The Grade 6 pupil instead went from her house in St Agatha Crescent in St Montague Village, on the Cape Flats, to buy a packet of chips from a nearby shop, which was in view of her family’s house.
“She said she is first going to buy her a packet of chips, and that’s the last we saw of her,” her mother Chrissandre Roman said.
Her sister, and her family, would never see Rene alive again.
Flyers were distributed, articles were written and Rene’s “missing” picture was circulated. She was a pretty girl, with a gentle smile.
She was described as “a quiet, well-behaved and diligent” girl… “according to the school and family, she isn’t social but very home-grown”, by Lucinda Evans, chairperson of the Steenberg Community Policing Forum who facilitated searches for her.
A reward of R10 000 was offered for information which was quickly doubled to R20 000 by an anonymous donor.
Searches were carried out of the neighbourhood and surrounding area. Vigils were held.
In the wake of the news that three other teens who had disappeared in recent weeks had been returned home safely, it was possible to feel a glimmer of hope for Rene’s safe return.
Her parents told reporters they believed their 13-year-old had been kidnapped.
“I know she is still alive. All I want to know is, is she eating? Does she have something to drink?
“Are there warm clothes? If somebody has her, are they treating her well?” Chrissandre asked.
Eleven days later, on March 21, Rene’s body was found in a neighbour’s Wendy house. The neighbour’s house was two doors away from the Roman’s.
Her partially dressed body was bound, and wrapped in an old carpet.
Rene’s biological father, Eugene Jacobs, said his daughter’s long black hair had been cut off.
A general worker Colin Louw, 33, was asked to clean out the Wendy house, after the neighbour’s girlfriend noticed a bad odour coming from the backyard.
The Roman’s neighbour, Andrew Plaatjies, 50, appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court briefly on Thursday where he was charged with Rene’s murder.
He will appear in court again on April 4.
Plaatjies had left Montague Village last Saturday to visit family in Stellenbosch.
Jacobs said Plaatjies had been at vigils held for Rene, and had helped search for her.
Rene’s father said he was relieved his daughter had been found, because “not knowing what happened to her would have destroyed us”.
Rene’s mother was reportedly present when her child’s body was found. “I don’t know how I am feeling,” was all she managed to say.
Rioting broke out in the suburb after Plaatjies’s arrest; probably the result of a mix of residents wanting justice, angry and frustrated at the horrific death of yet another child, and opportunistic criminals and gangsters who stoned police and their vehicles.
Yesterday, another unremarkable Friday morning, two weeks after Rene didn’t get to have a packet of chips, or collect her little sister from crèche, pupils and staff at Levana Primary were grieving.
A post on the school’s Facebook page read: “This morning we grieve the loss of 13 year old, Rene Tracey Roman.
“This quiet, unassuming, Grade 6 learner will leave a void in her classroom, at our school and in our hearts for a very long time. We would like to extend our deepest sympathy to her family and her friends.
“Thank you to SAPS, Lucinda Evans, the community and her parents for their support at our school.
“We appeal to the community to remember and celebrate her life and not to resort to violence during this time of grief and sorrow.”