Humble send-off for local woman shot dead
HEIRESS Rosemary Bell may have been a multimillionaire and businesswoman with plush properties around the country, but she had a humble send-off.
A small marquee was erected at the back of her mother’s modest Phoenix home, with guests sitting on white plastic chairs for the funeral on Friday. Bell was cremated at the Verulam Crematorium afterwards.
Her older sister, Charmaine Mackenzie, said the family did what they could to honour her.
“We organised the funeral quickly because we didn’t want her body lying in a mortuary. We had a small, intimate funeral for her. We couldn’t locate her (funeral) policy, and my brother-in-law (Bell’s exhusband) and I had to pay for everything.
“Not one of the many friends she helped, who were often at her house, offered one cent towards the funeral. Because a business is run from my mother’s house, there was no space to erect the marquee. We had to put it up at the back of the house, close to the road.”
Bell was allegedly shot dead by her metro police boyfriend of five years, Dayandran (Devon) Govender, 44, on Tuesday.
She was shot in her lower abdomen in her luxurious Trenance Park, Durban North, home.
Govender allegedly said Bell was shot after she took his gun and he tried to get it back from her.
He remains in police custody after making a brief court appearance in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
He appeared dishevelled when he made his appearance, dressed in a black Puma tracksuit jacket, maroon T-shirt and army camouflage cargo pants.
His family and metro police colleagues were in court to support him, but would not speak to the media.
Magistrate Vanitha Armu remanded Govender in custody until August 28, when he will make a formal bail application.
The SAPS and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate are investigating.
Bell reportedly inherited several properties from her former boss, who viewed her as a daughter. These included the Durban North house she lived in, a townhouse in Sandton, and a villa on a private golf estate on the Cape West Coast.
Bell reportedly earned rental income from the two properties and ran a wheel alignment and tyre repair centre from a garage at her mother’s home.
She previously owned two taxis, which she sold last year.
Mackenzie said the past few days had been hard for the family, especially Bell’s mother and her 12-year-old daughter with ex-husband Charlton Bell.
“Having to bury your younger sister is the most difficult thing anyone can do. I had never been that close to a dead body, let alone having to put make-up on them in preparation for the funeral.
“It has been hard on the whole family. I haven’t been able to sleep for three days, and neither could Charlton. We have to take sleeping pills just to get some rest.”
She said they were amazed at the large turnout for the funeral.
“It showed Rose was loved and had touched many people’s lives.”
Mackenzie said that Bell’s daughter was having difficulty accepting her death.
Mackenzie claimed Bell and Govender had a turbulent relationship and often fought.
“We want justice. He cannot get away with it, even if he is a cop.”
She alleges that damning evidence has been uncovered by the police – including a neighbour’s statement that they were fighting on the night of the shooting – which will prove the shooting was not an accident.