No answers after eighteen years

Police not helpful, dropped the investigation without finding any leads

mervyn.naidoo@inl.co.za

WIDOWED for 18 years, Sharitha Singh lives alone in her Durban flat.

There were times during the day when she would glance at a photograph of her husband Jeykaran, a former school principal, hanging on her lounge wall, and feel as if he was in the room.

Her raging emotions would then lead her to feel a mixture of anger and sorrow.

Jeykaran, her soulmate, was plucked away unexpectedly from her on April 13, 2000.

At the time, Singh and her children (Nielsham, Lekrisha, Sathvic and Devisha) lived in a four-bedroom house on Coventry Road, Westville.

It was at this house that her husband was shot dead by two gunmen in broad daylight.

Police investigated the killing but within days abandoned the case because they could not find any clues.

Eighteen years on, Singh said she and her family are still puzzled over why anyone would want to kill her husband.

“He could make a dead donkey laugh. My husband was full of humour, he never had enemies and loved to help people,” said Singh.

With Diwali around the corner, Singh has resigned herself to once again go through the motions of the festival.

“It’s not the same without my husband,” Singh said.

At family gatherings she is aware that people refrain from speaking about her husband.

“We all have our private moments to reflect on the memory of my husband.”

A lingering memory for Singh was the day when, out of the blue, Nielsham arrived at her place of work in Mobeni and said: “Mum, daddy was shot. He’s no more…

“Those words of my son, which often echo in my head, makes my husband’s death feels like it happened yesterday.”

On the morning of the shooting, Singh spoke briefly to her husband who retired from work in 1998, about the duties of the domestic helper, pecked him on his cheek and then left for work.

Later that morning, Sathvic was in a conversation with his father, over breakfast in the kitchen.

That’s when Devisha’s 4-year-old son Svastir called out: “Nana (Hindi for grandfather), someone is asking for Mr Singh.”

With a slice of toast still in his hand, Jeykaran dashed towards the entrance door in the lounge to meet the unexpected visitor.

When the 59-year-old Jeykaran stepped onto the veranda, he was confronted by two unknown men who shot him in the chest and face.

Sathvic, who followed his father, witnessed the shooting together with Svastir.

Fearing for their lives, Sathvic grabbed hold of his nephew and fled into one of the rooms, locking the door. From there, Sathvic called his brother to raise the alarm.

By the time help arrived the shooters had fled, and their identity remains unknown.

“Sathvic and Svastir needed trauma counselling after that experience,” said Singh.

A few days after Jeykaran’s funeral, Singh said, the police told them they couldn’t investigate any further.

Singh said she and her family suspected the two people who borrowed large sums of money from her husband could have been the ones behind his killing.

“When my husband retired, he received a large sum of money, but at the same time two people (a male and a female) became very friendly with him,” Singh said

“They would give him sob stories about their life’s troubles and ask for cash.

Being a kind-hearted person, he would write out cheques for them.

“After his death we found more than 20 cheques written out to these individuals and, collectively, they were worth more than R400 000,” she said.

Singh said they were surprised the two never attended her husband’s funeral and only visited days after.

“I questioned them about that and they said they were unaware my husband died, yet they were regular visitors.

“The money was never paid back and when I approached the man about the debt some years later, he said he was bankrupt,” said Singh.