Boy not coping after seeing mom killed
The son of a pregnant Soweto woman who was gunned down in front of him is haunted by his mom's violent death.
|||Johannesburg - The son of a pregnant Soweto woman who was gunned down in front of him in a botched hijacking is haunted by his mother’s violent death.
Charlotte Ramohai’s son Thato, 7, was with her in April when she was shot dead by two assailants in front of her children’s school in Bramfischerville. The men fled in her car, which was later found abandoned in Dobsonville, the same suburb where one of the accused, Mlungisi Twala, was eventually arrested.
Ramohai had arrived at the school to fetch her 12-year-old daughter Masabatha when the brazen attack happened in full view of children leaving the school.
On Wednesday, a relative of the family, Lungile Maphathe, said the boy was struggling to deal with the trauma.
“Thato can’t cope at school, he cries, he misses his mother,” she said, adding that Masabatha was often called to comfort her younger brother during school hours.
On Wednesday, the case of the two men accused of killing Ramohai was transferred from the Protea Magistrate’s Court to the high court sitting in Palm Ridge. Alex Ngobeni, 25, and Twala, 24, are charged with murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
Magistrate Herman Badenhorst said the trial would start on January 25.
Ramohai’s distraught husband, Tshepo, said he was also struggling to come to terms with his wife’s murder.
“We’re not coping very well. Sometimes we feel better, then the next day it’s worse than before. The truth is it’s not getting any better.”
The dreams and plans he shared with his wife, such as finishing construction on their new house, had been put on hold since her death, he said.
He hoped that the case would move faster once it got to the high court.
Charlotte’s older sister, Mapule Molopi, was overcome with grief after proceedings and couldn’t talk.
Twala is also facing other charges. He allegedly hijacked 80-year-old Mohammed Darsot and his son in Mayfair in April and forced Darsot into the boot of his car. The son was dropped off at an unknown location before the attackers abandoned the car in Dobsonville. Darsot died in the boot. It is unclear whether he suffocated or died from injuries sustained during the hijacking.
gabi.falanga@inl.co.za
The Star