YOU (South Africa)

Parents seek justice for slain Tazne

As the man accused of their daughter’s brutal slaying comes to trial her grief-stricken parents want answers

- BY ROBYN LUCAS

SHE should’ve celebrated her 10th birthday this year. It’s the double-digit milestone youngsters look forward to as it means they’ve left their little-kid years behind and are on their way to becoming teenagers. Tazne van Wyk would have been in Grade 4, a big sister to two younger girls. But Tazne will never grow up, never fall in love or get married or know the joy of becoming a mother.

A little more than a year ago, she was abducted, raped, murdered and her body mutilated in a crime that beggared belief and dominated headlines for days. Now the man accused of her slaying is preparing to stand trial – and her parents, Carmen van Wyk (28) and Terence Manual (32), can only hope it will bring them some closure.

“We’ve been waiting patiently for answers about exactly what happened to Tazne,” Carmen says from her home in Ravensmead, Cape Town.

“Hopefully with the court case we’ll get those answers and the person responsibl­e will get what he deserves.”

Tazne’s dad is unable to contain his fury. “[The suspect] gets looked after in prison. He gets three meals a day. He has a bed, but we’ll never see our little Tazne again. There’s no such thing as coping for me. I still have a lot of anger inside me.”

Moyhdian Pangarker (55) will stand trial in the high court in Cape Town on 20 charges related to Tazne’s killing, as well as crimes involving other victims including 11 charges of rape, two of kidnapping, three of assault and others of incest, sexual assault and desecratin­g a corpse.

According to the state’s indictment presented at his pre-trial hearing in the Goodwood Magistrate’s Court last year, he raped another child five times between 2016 and 2019.

He later allegedly kidnapped the girl and held her captive in a house in

Worcester where he tied her up and threatened to kill her if she reported the rapes. The incest charge relates to his allegedly impregnati­ng a relative.

Pangarker, who lived near Tazne’s family, allegedly lured Tazne from her home on 7 February last year and took her to the Parow train station. From there, he drove her to Worcester, stopping to rape her along the N1 highway.

She died as a result of blunt force trauma to her head, chest, neck and pelvic area. Her right hand was sawn off.

Terence, who was in court at the pre-trial hearing, looked Pangarker in the eye, and asked him in Afrikaans, “Why did you do these things? You’re supposed to be a grown man!”

The trial is set to begin on 31 May.

CARMEN just wants the trial to be over so she can focus on her two daughters, Tamzen (5) and Tamlyn (1), and try to find some joy in life again. “We can’t just sit and be sad about what happened,” says Carmen, as her little girls play in the next room. “So we’re trying to move on and be fine.

“At the end of the day, we do have two other children so we’re trying to remain positive for them, because they don’t yet fully understand what happened to their sister.”

Carmen and Terence say the memory of the last time they saw Tazne alive is etched in their minds.

“I spoke to her the morning before she went to school. We talked about everyday things – I warned her to stick to the group she walks with to school and we discussed what she did the previous day,” Carmen recalls.

Terence adds, “On that day she returned home from school with a new pair of red slippers. She told me one of her friends’ mothers had given it to her. She then said she was going to the shop to get herself something to eat and that was the last time I spoke to her.”

When the eight-year-old didn’t return from the shop not far from their home, her parents knew something was wrong and immediatel­y called the police.

“I didn’t know what to think. I was totally out of it because I knew my child would never go to another person’s house to play. She was always just in our yard, in our home or in the local park which we could see from our front door,” an emotional Carmen says.

Community members joined Carmen and Terence in a search that continued through the night and for the next two weeks.

Tazne’s body was eventually found in a stormwater drain in Worcester after the suspect led the police there.

“I never thought I’d be in this situation,” Carmen says.

“I was always frustrated when I saw something like this happening to other parents, but when I experience­d it myself, it was a shock that I can’t explain. No parent should go through something like it. The pain is indescriba­ble.”

Terence admits he’s wracked with guilt.

“I feel like I let her down, like I couldn’t protect her,” he says. “I never laid a hand on Tazne or my other children so for someone to do this to my child . . . It’s heartbreak­ing.”

THE grieving parents are trying their best to honour Tazne’s memory. Terence carries a picture of her with him in the hope that her smile will comfort him. “We have a lot of pictures of Tazne in our home, and my youngest child, Tamlyn, always smiles and kisses the pictures.

“Tamzen often speaks about Tazne. She misses her a lot,” Carmen says.

Tazne, they say, was a shy and quiet child but always kind and helpful.

“She liked to share, she liked to help everyone. If her friend was having a tough time at home, she would bring her over to our house to console her. At school, she was tops in everything. She was an A student,” her dad says proudly.

Tazne had big dreams, he adds. “She wanted to become a lawyer or a doctor. She said she wanted to help people. She was so bright and amazing.”

The upcoming trial will be tough on the family but they hope justice will be served – and the nagging questions they have will be answered.

“I just want to ask a few questions, like, what were Tazne’s last words before she was murdered?” Terence says.

Although Tazne is deeply missed, the grieving dad says having his two younger daughters around helps him deal with the pain.

“When I feel alone, my baby girl will sense it and give me a hug, which makes me feel a bit better. The emotions come and go, but it will get better.”

‘THERE’S NO COPING, I STILL HAVE A LOT OF ANGER INSIDE’

 ??  ?? Terence Manual and Carmen van Wyk are still coming to terms with their daughter’s death but hope the trial will bring them some closure.
Terence Manual and Carmen van Wyk are still coming to terms with their daughter’s death but hope the trial will bring them some closure.
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 ??  ?? LEFT: Tazne van Wyk from Ravensmead, Cape Town, was brutally raped and murdered last year.
LEFT: Tazne van Wyk from Ravensmead, Cape Town, was brutally raped and murdered last year.
 ??  ?? ABOVE: Moyhdian Pangarker allegedly killed Tazne, then hid her body in a drain. LEFT: Tazne’s family in court. RIGHT: A picture of her adorns a relative’s home.
ABOVE: Moyhdian Pangarker allegedly killed Tazne, then hid her body in a drain. LEFT: Tazne’s family in court. RIGHT: A picture of her adorns a relative’s home.

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