Woman wants her brother to rot in jail
Khayelitsha teen, Thimna Kuze, 13, was killed allegedly by her friends’ uncle while at a sleepover. Picture: Supplied
A KHAYELITSHA mom said she wants her brother, who is accused of rape and murder, to be locked up for life.
The 39-year-old woman shared how Thimna Kuze, 13, was suffocated in her home in Taiwan, Site C on March 24. The incident occurred while she was in the Eastern Cape.
Thimna was a Grade 7 learner in Lantana Primary in Mitchells Plain.
Thimna and another teen were invited to a sleepover by the woman’s twins, aged 14, while she was away.
“I attended my grandmother’s funeral and the girls discussed that they would go to Thimna’s family and requested she sleep at my house.
“My brother didn’t come with us to the Eastern Cape. I trusted he would look after my children but my twin daughters told me that he said he was going to be in Philippi for the weekend and that is why they wanted Thimna to sleep over.”
The distraught woman explained when the girls arrived at her home, the suspect offered them alcohol. “He forced them to drink the bottle of brandy and (smoke) a hookah pipe.
“They drank as they watched TV and they put a mattress in the lounge. Thimna then fell asleep and they put a blanket over her and they left her there and went to sleep in the bedroom.”
Around 3am one of the teens woke up and found she had been allegedly raped.
“Her panties and pants were pulled down, she woke the others and they also found that one of my daughters was also half-naked and the second one’s pants were off but she was still wearing her underwear.
“They then went to check on Thimna and they found her on the floor next to the mattress and my brother was sitting next to her.
“They tried to wake her up but her body was not moving. They noticed blood in her nose, and they decided to carry her to my bed. They thought she got a cold from sleeping on the tiles and my brother helped them.”
The twins’ mom said they called her neighbour who felt Thimna’s pulse and confirmed she was dead.
“She noticed that my brother was wiping blood from Thimna’s private part(s) ... she was bleeding, from the rape. She called community members, who interrogated him but he denied everything, they informed Thimna’s family and the police.”
She said she found out about the murder from a neighbour who called her about the death in her house and when she arrived in Cape Town her brother had already fled the area.
“We decided to put the story on Facebook and we were informed that he is in the Philippi area. I don’t know what possessed him to do this to someone’s child, I want the court to give him a life sentence for what he did.”
Her heartbroken grandmother Agnes Kuze, 75, said she didn’t want the teen to go to the sleepover.
“I was reluctant to let her go because it was around 9:30pm when they came but I eventually agreed because I knew them. I went to sleep with this feeling that something would go wrong and at about 7:30am the next morning I woke up and thought she would come home and around 8am I asked her brother to call her and the phone was off and even the friends were unreachable.
“I could see he was worried too. Then a few moments later the victim’s mom came in and I told her (that) her daughter didn’t come home before we received the dreaded call and we went to the scene.”
The grandmother told the Weekend Argus that she sat next to the suspect but didn’t think he was the killer.
“He was very casual, neatly dressed. Once, we found out my daughter attacked him out of anger and the police threatened to arrest her if she didn’t stop. Minutes later after we left, the police set him free and that is how he managed to flee the area.”
The suspect’s mom said she was appalled when she found out about the alleged rapes and murder.
“He was supposed to look after the children, keep them safe.
“My daughters didn’t tell me what happened on the day but only a day later, upon hearing this, I decided to travel to Cape Town. I was extremely shocked when I found out that it was my son who did this. He is my last born child. He’s a quiet person who doesn’t smoke drugs. He’s not violent.”
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk said they were investigating a case of murder and no arrest has been made yet.
“A post-mortem was done and foul play was confirmed. The inquest will be changed to a murder investigation. Khayelitsha detectives and Khayelitsha FCS Unit are investigating the alleged rape allegations too. The investigation continues and there are no new developments to report at this stage. All leads are followed up by the investigation officer.”
Weekend Argus