Murder of 17-year-old Hanover Park teen sparks tension as community demands justice
|Published
Police order was called after Angry community of Hanover Park beaten up a suspect and they want justice for the brutal murder of Jehaan Petersen. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane/African News Agency (ANA)
Cape Town - The Hanover Park community is outraged by the murder of a teenage girl whose body was discovered on an open field at Greenturf Road on Sunday morning.
In an act of mob justice, residents yesterday apprehended two men and beat and dragged them to the family home of the slain teen before public order police arrived and took them away.
This happened minutes before a vigil was held for 17-year-old Jehaan Petersen to remember her as she was and not how she died.
While the family await the release of her remains, the police have confirmed that a 33-year-old suspect was arrested on Tuesday night, after a murder docket at Philippi police station was opened following the gruesome discovery. She was found with open wounds to her head and body.
Petersen’s family said the last time they saw her was last week Thursday. Her aunt, Tasneem Losper, 60, who raised her from the age of 4, was devastated.
Losper said they started searching for Jehaan after they received information from a neighbour, who said the teen had been killed and her body dumped on a field close to Crystal High School.
They immediately started searching, asking around in the neighbourhood, but when a night search with police assistance came up empty on Saturday, they returned to the open field on Sunday morning and discovered her body.
Losper said DNA tests confirming her identity still need to be conducted because her face was unrecognisable, but when she arrived at the scene, she knew it was Jehaan.
“I almost lost my mind when I heard the news. We went to the scene on the field but they tried to block me because one of the women said it (the body) was in a terrible state, but I said no, I want to see. I went to the body, her face was gone, but I knew it was her.”
Losper said a week before she was killed, the teen told her of a man who had been threatening her.
“She said to me, ‘Ma you must speak to him because he tailed me and he wanted to rape me, and he said if I tell anybody about it, he’s going to kill me.’ That’s what she told me,” Losper said.
Another family member said: “I helped raise her and she was a lovely child, she didn’t deserve that. I think she kept things away from us because she knew we were stern on people who harmed her. So she was scared of that, that’s why she never spoke about it. What upsets me is that she didn’t tell us, but she was scared for her own life.”
Losper added: “We certainly want justice because she didn’t deserve to go like that. She was a sweet child, there isn’t one person outside who can speak badly about her, everyone is heartbroken.”
Her grandmother, Shakeelah Rhode, 49, said as she wept: “I’m broken, I’m heartbroken because she is my eldest granddaughter and I love her to bits. I just want justice for her. She was 17, she had her whole life ahead of her, to kill her this way, I don’t think it’s right.”
Hanover Park Community Policing Forum’s Yaseen Johaar said: “The community is very angry, upset and shocked at the murder of this young girl. We are expecting the law to play their part, so that the perpetrators come to book. What we do not expect is for perpetrators to walk around freely after committing these heinous crimes.”
Moms Move for Justice’s Avril Andrews said: “It’s very traumatic, but I’m also very angry for people who think they can get away with this.”
“She was a young girl, and it’s sad that she had to endure this.”
Losper said the only reason she could think of for this tragedy, “is because he was obsessed with her”.