Mom’s death premonition
Family light camphor where Desiree died
WITH tears streaming down her face and a heavy heart, Chatsworth grandmother, Sivapurani Murugan, made the painful journey to the Shallcross Stadium this week to say a prayer for her daughter, Desiree, whose brutal murder shocked a nation.
Accompanied by her other daughter, Jeanette, it was her first visit to the field where Desiree was stabbed 195 times before being beheaded.
The sex worker had been lured to the stadium a month ago today (Wednesday) and murdered for muti purposes.
Guided by Jeanette, Murugan, 60, removed her spectacles, wiped her tears and trudged slowly to the makeshift shrine, where a wreath lay on the long grass.
“Is this the spot?’’ she asked. “Yes, ma, this is the spot,’’ replied Jeanette.
“Let’s light the camphor. It is my prayer that Desiree’s spirit will haunt her killers and that they will never have peace,” Murugan said, her face hardening.
Speaking to POST later she said she had a premonition that something bad was going to happen to Desiree, who had visited her twice last month – for the first time in six months.
Desiree, a mother of one, had shrugged off the concerns and responded that no area was safe.
Murugan said she did not expect her daughter’s life to have ended under such violent circumstances.
Murugan, who has three other children, said her family had established four years ago that Desiree was involved in prostitution.
“My husband (Perumal), who was a civil engineer who died of cancer last year, was upset when he heard about that.
“However, we did not shut the door on Desiree. She was our child and we told her that she was welcome to visit us and to stay over whenever she wanted to. She worked at a clothing factory as a designer, and before the firm closed had dreams of getting her diploma in fashion designing,” she said.
“I heard for the first time four years ago that someone had introduced her to drugs and then to prostitution.”
Turning to the life sentence imposed by Durban magistrate Anand Maharaj on Desiree’s killer, Falakhe Khumalo, 18, last Thursday, Murugan said while she was pleased with the outcome of the case, it made no difference.
She said she had waited for the sentence to be handed down before going to the scene of the crime. “It would be appropriate to do it for my daughter. It has not been easy, but Jeanette and other family members encouraged me to be strong.”
Khumalo, who pleaded guilty, said he was offered R2 million by two witchdoctors to find the head of an Indian, coloured or white woman with long hair. He was described by Maharaj “as cunning beyond his years”.
Murugan said she hoped that Khumalo and his accomplices would rot in prison. “He will be visited by his family in prison. The ruthless killer is breathing but Desiree is gone for good. The Department of Correctional Services may in the future release him on parole,” she said. “My family and I were in court on Thursday. We do not accept his apology. How can we accept an apology from such a cold blooded killer?”
Jeanette said the fact that Khumalo admitted in his guilty plea that her sister was stalked for some time showed that the gruesome murder was planned.
“Khumalo had the time to ponder on the grief his deed would cause. He chose to proceed with the murder and participated in stabbing my sister 195 times. His apology means nothing,” she said.
Three juveniles also accused of the murder – a girl aged 15 and two boys aged 16 and 17 – on Monday changed their minds in the Durban Magistrate’s Court and decided to plead not guilty, after saying earlier that they wanted to plead guilty.
They will appear again with the alleged masterminds, Sibonakaliso Makhozi, 32, and Vuzimuzi Gumede, 30, next Monday.
All five are in custody.