‘Community’ service for little Courtney
FOR the past week, Pluto Street in Elsies River has been inundated with traffic.
It’s where the Pieters family home is located. And it was from here that 3-year-old Courtney Pieters went missing on May 4.
Her lifeless body was found in a shallow grave nearby after an exhaustive nine-day search.
Pluto Street is also where President Jacob Zuma, with local media in tow, unveiled a plaque in memory of Courtney earlier this week. And it is here where her alleged killer, Mortimer Saunders, 40, shared a room with the family.
Yesterday hundreds of people again gathered in Pluto Street, this time for Courtney’s funeral and to pay their last respects to the murdered girl.
Before the service Courtney’s father, Aaron Fourie, said it had been an “exhausting week”.
“The community has been supportive and that has lifted me up. That’s what’s kept me above water. That has kept me where I am.”
Family, friends and residents gathered outside the Pieters’s residence, and a band played hymns as mourners arrived.
There was also a large group of bikers who arrived from all over Cape Town, their helmets raised in the air.
“As bikers we came out to show our support for the family as well as to protest against abuseagainst all children. Your child is my child,” said Andre Ford, a biker from Bonteheuwel.
From the house, mourners made their way to the Adriaanse Community Centre. There they were joined by thousands more for the church service.
A family spokesperson, Roegchanda Pascoe, said they were overwhelmed by the turnout. “The family never expected this. Juanita (Courtney’s mother) asked me: ‘Are all these people really here for Courtney? Do we really have so much support?’ ”.
Pascoe described the service for the little girl as a “community funeral”.
“There has been so much unity among our people. We appreciate all the support.”
There were few dry eyesduring the service, and afterwards mourners headed to Belhar graveyard, Courtney’s final resting place.
Her parents and family will now turn their attention to the court case as they search for answers to her senseless murder.
“He (the suspect) was my best friend,” said Fourie. “I feel angry and heartsore. I don’t know what went through his head. The answers you’ll only get from him, no-one else. I will be attending every court appearance. Juanita (Courtney’s mother) is even more angry than I am, that I can tell you for sure. I told her to be strong, ‘I am by your side’.”
Saunders is due to appear in the Goodwood Magistrate’s Court again on Wednesday. He faces a murder charge and two charges of rape.