Cape Town - “I never thought I’d be a widow before the age of 40,” said Dr Latiefa Vinoos, as she mourned her husband.
More than a month after Lansdowne businessman Khalied Parker was gunned down in a suspected attempted kidnapping, police have yet to make any arrests.
On Tuesday, police spokesperson Andre Traut said: “The murder of Khalied Parker is still under investigation by an integrated task team and arrests are yet to be made.”
The 40-year-old father was attacked and killed by three unknown assailants on September 9 in an alleged attempted kidnapping.
Lansdowne CPF chairperson Rafique Foflonker said: “The case started in Lansdowne but was handed over to a special unit at the provincial office. It was reported that someone was arrested for the murder and released shortly afterwards, but nobody was arrested in that case.”
In a heartbreaking account of how her husband’s death had affected her family, Parker’s widow Vinoos shared a social media post on Sunday that has since gone viral with more than 1 300 shares.
In her post, she details the kind-hearted nature of Parker, his values and how as a loving husband he helped her establish a private practice.
She goes on to share the response from the community and loved ones who visited her after his funeral, the dread that came with explaining his death to her children and the acceptance she has found in her grief.
Dr Vinoos said the post was prompted by the 40-day commemoration of his death, but she never expected the reaction.
She said: “I’ve accepted, there’s nothing I can do to bring him back.”
Excerpts from the post read: “The day I got that call, I rushed over thinking he was only hurt.
“We had spent the entire morning chatting on WhatsApp (nearly two hours) followed by a 25-minute phone call that ended 10 minutes prior to his death. We laughed. If I look back, we always laughed, teased and were always joking around.
“When I arrived at the scene and I had walked up to Khalied lying there and my medical training had systematically and immediately started accepting that he was gone, my body started becoming overwhelmed with emotion.
“While I looked at Khalied’s lifeless body, it was hard to imagine that it had housed my husband, such a fun-loving and beautiful soul, just minutes before.
“I heard many things about his death. He fought to protect himself. He died on a Friday morning. When he was taking his last breaths, those walking to the masjied and friends started reciting the Shahada (last prayer) for him. They say he had peace and tranquility on his face when he left this world. Allah knows best,” Vinoos said.
She quipped about how she was always referred to as “Khalied Parker’s wife” and would tease Parker on the subject but in ending her post, she wrote: “I guess I have a new title now: Khalied Parker’s widow.”