Cape Town - “She was a mother to everyone in Tafelsig, no matter who you were, she would talk to you, give you food, and make time to listen to you. Why would someone kill her in such a gruesome way?”
This is the burning question from the family of 87-year-old Ellen Malan, who was found tied up and murdered in her bedroom on Saturday afternoon at her home in Steenboksberg Street.
Her son-in-law, Dimitri Karelse, recounted the harrowing discovery.
“That was the routine, we all lived close by so we would take her lunch and pop in there.
“She was a very independent, God-fearing woman. She did not want anyone living with her, so we got houses close to her."
Karelse continued: “On Saturday, I went in to take her food, I called out and she didn't answer. I went to the room and saw her in the corner.
“I thought maybe she had fallen again because she wasn't on her bed, so I went to call her grandson across the road to help. He then noticed she wasn't breathing, and then we saw the clothes around her hands and feet.”
The rest of the family soon arrived at the house to find their beloved matriarch gone.
Malan’s granddaughter, Megan Karelse, said the ordeal left the family in pieces.
“We are hurt, we have so many questions, we don’t know how to feel. Is it real? Did this really happen?”
She described her grandmother as a people’s person.
“She loved everyone; she even loved dogs and cats. That's how lovable she was. She had her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but then she had the community who were also her children, which is why we can't understand who would do this and why they would do this.”
Neighbours said the murder left the entire community in shock and fear.
According to a source close to the investigation, the suspect is believed to have entered through the back door connected to Malan’s bedroom.
The source added that while all the cupboards in the kitchen had been opened, nothing appeared to have been stolen.
Deputy chairperson of the Mitchell's Plain Community Policing Forum (CPF), Veranique Williams, visited the family to offer support and express the forum’s condolences.
“My heart goes out to this elderly woman and what she must have gone through in her final hours being strangled,” Williams said.
Police spokesperson, Wesley Twigg, confirmed a murder case had been registered. The circumstances surrounding her death form part of the police investigation. The suspect or suspects fled the scene and are yet to be arrested.”
Twigg urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
Cape Argus