Vindication for husband of woman, child found dead in a suitcase
|Published
Simangele Simamane would have celebrated her 40th birthday in July while her daughter Sbongakonke Mthembu would have turned 13 in June. Their bodies were found stuffed into a suitcase in KwaDabeka. The man accused of their murder and kidnapping is expected to make a second appearance in court on Friday.
DURBAN - THE husband of a woman whose body, along with that of her child’s, was found stuffed into a suitcase last year in KwaDabeka said that while he felt exonerated by justice being done, it had been a tough six months.
Sthembiso Lamula, 41, facing two counts of murder as well as kidnapping, was expected to make his second appearance in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
The husband of the murdered woman, Senzo Simamane, told the Daily News yesterday that he had been treated in hospital for depression and was still receiving counselling. This was making it bearable to continue living in the same home he had shared with his wife, Simangele, 39 and their daughter Sbongakonke Mthembu,12, in Newlands East.
Their bodies were found stuffed in a suitcase on Lwandle Drive.
When the bodies were discovered, Simamane had told the media that his wife was last seen after she was called over to their neighbour’s house over a children’s argument. She never returned.
He was glad that justice was being done and he was being vindicated.
"My name has been cleared after it was tainted by people who were saying that I had done this to my wife and child."
Simamane hoped for two life sentences to be handed down.
"That's what he deserves and should be given because he took two lives in a brutal manner to an extent that he burnt them," said Simamane.
He said it has been a tough six months since the killings.
"I'm taking a break from work at the moment because I was not coping as I had not found closure. It's all still relatively new. This happened in October and this arrest only happened last week. For six months I haven’t been okay," said Simamane, a police officer.
“People thought I had done it and that put my life at risk. I didn’t get to bury my wife at my home the way I wanted to. My in-laws took her body and had the funeral at their home. That was hurtful for me.”
According to the police, Simamane and her daughter had multiple injuries on their bodies and a rope had been tied around their necks.
Spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said the mother sustained open wounds on the back of the head, multiple injuries on the face, bruises on the neck and burn wounds on the left leg and on the body.
“Her daughter had bruises on the neck and a stab wound on the left hip. It is alleged that the victims were kidnapped before they were killed,” said Mbele.
She said on Wednesday officers from the Provincial Tracking Team and Crime Intelligence were tipped off that the murder suspect had come out of hiding and was seen in KwaMashu.
“They proceeded to his home in KwaMashu and he was arrested. The investigation is still ongoing and more arrests are imminent.”
Daily News