Tears flow afresh on anniversary of Baby Lee’s horror killing
Slain Eastern Cape karate and boxing champion Leighandré “Baby Lee” Jegels’s mother, Rita, has broken her silence and spoken for the first time about the abuse her daughter endured before her death in August 2019.
Speaking to the Dispatch on Sunday after a memorial wreath-laying ceremony to mark the first anniversary at the spot where her daughter was gunned down near Mdantsane, Rita revealed her daughter had endured terrible abuse before her slaying and how she had hidden it from her family.
Baby Lee was shot dead a year ago by her estranged policeman boyfriend Bulelani Manyakama while she was driving to training in Mdantsane.
Manyakama died in hospital days later after crashing his car near Peddie after he shot the young woman in the face. That crash claimed two other lives.
Baby Lee’s mother, who was in the passenger seat when Manyakama blocked their vehicle and pumped several bullets into Baby Lee, is still struggling to make sense of the day’s events.
On Sunday she revealed her daughter had endured “all kinds of abuse”.
“That man abused her in every way possible — mentally, physically, spiritually and financially. She couldn’t get away from him. He was the devil himself.
“She’d sometimes come home covered in makeup, which she never wore, or with a doek on because she had knobs all over her head because of the beatings she endured.
“He had already threatened to kill her, once going as far as putting a gun in her mouth. He raped and sodomised my daughter.
“I think on that day he shot her she was trying to protect me by getting out of the car,” an emotional Rita said.
Rita was also shot during the attack and was hospitalised.
Jegels had taken out a protection order against her exboyfriend a few days before her death.
She had confided in her mother and sister Chandré about the abuse on the day the order was obtained.
On Sunday, during an emotionally charged ceremony, her family unveiled a cross at the scene where she died.
A bunch of white and pink balloons were released into the air, symbolic of releasing her spirit to rest in glory.
Jegels’s boxing promoter, Andile Sidinile, said the slaying was something he was still processing.
Sidinile gave her the boxing name Baby Lee.
Speaking on gender-based violence, Sidinile said men were in constant battle with their egos on one hand and very weak willpower on the other.
“I think how we [men] react to that weakness is to hide it by using our physicality.
“The failure of our government is in making sure that protection orders are enforced. The first step in this case should have been to take away his firearm,” Sidinile said.
Shihan Stephen Martin, a 5th dan black belt karate trainer who trained Jegels for 14 years, said: “It’s still difficult to speak about her passing. She stood out like a true champion and made us all proud.
“She was a role model to all my female karate students who want to excel because of the path Leighandré paved.”
Rita visited the spot for the first time since the shooting.
“People say I’m strong but I’m not. I’m still mourning. To me it’s like she’s gone on holiday and she’s coming back.
“Reality hasn’t hit me yet.”