Dad hangs daughter, 4, and himself
Families baffled by tragedy
JEALOUSY and possessiveness apparently drove a Chatsworth father to hang his fouryear-old daughter before taking his own life.
Alisha Vandiar made the discovery on Saturday night. She found the bodies of her husband, Dashen, 27, and their daughter, Kellita, hanged from the rafters of his grandmother’s home in Chatsworth .
Vandiar, a nurse at Wentworth Hospital, tried to save her daughter’s life.
She got a knife, cut her daughter free from the nylon rope and tried to resuscitate her.
A close friend of the family, who did not want to be named, said Vandiar also tried CPR for several minutes.
“When she did not get a response, she alerted family and told them to meet her at Chatsmed hospital. She then bundled the lifeless body into her car and drove to the hospital. But it was too late. Kellita was already dead.”
The friend described Vandiar’s actions as extremely brave.
“She loved her child. This is a real blow to her. I doubt she will ever recover from the trauma.”
The friend said it was unclear what had driven the young father to kill the child and himself.
“At about 9pm on Saturday, he left the house with Kellita and went to his grandmother’s house.
“She was not there at the time – he had a key to the house because he operated an electrical workshop on the premises.”
It’s believed that the child was asleep when he tied a nylon rope around her neck before she was hanged from the rafters of the house. “He left no room for mistakes. He made sure they both died. There was no suicide note.
“Alisha went to look for them about an hour later and found both bodies.”
A post-mortem report showed that the child had died as a result of strangulation.
Yesterday, hundreds of mourners gathered at the family home in Woodhurst Drive for the father and daughter’s joint funeral service.
The friend said the couple had been happily married for about six years and doted on their daughter.
“They had domestic issues like any couple. Alisha’s good looks and outgoing personality made Dashen jealous and possessive. After the tragedy, rumours surfaced about a domestic argument that allegedly drove Dashen to kill himself and the child. It is unclear what the argument was about. But no one expected it to end this way.”
He described the child as a sweet angel, who had good manners.
“Dashen and Alisha’s families are also baffled and very shocked at the turn of events. Maybe they will get some answers about what really happened in days to come.”
KZN police spokesman, Captain Thulani Zwane, confirmed the incident.
“Information reveals that at about 10pm on Saturday, a 27-year-old male allegedly hanged his four-year-old daughter and then himself after an alleged domestic dispute with his partner.”
He said Chatsworth police were investigating a case of murder and an inquest docket had been opened.