Musgrave mom gagged and left to die
The death of Shakila Singh in her upmarket home in a secure complex has left her family devastated and neighbours terrified.
|||Durban - The death of a widowed mother of two in her upmarket Musgrave, Durban home in a secure complex, which she had hoped would shield her from rampant crime, has left her family devastated and neighbours terrified.
Retired teacher Shakila Singh, 57, was found on the floor of her bedroom on Monday morning, with duct tape around her face and her hands bound by plastic cable ties.
The brazen daylight attack on the relative of IFP MP Narend Singh has shocked KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu, who now wants police to get out of their offices and stations and onto the streets to protect citizens.
CCTV footage apparently shows two men in painters’ overalls entering the gated Musgrave Gardens complex and making a bee-line for Singh’s unit, less than a minute after her son Yashmeir, 28, had left for work. Her other son, Amil, 20, a medical student in Mauritius, arrived in Durban on Monday night.
The suspects were seen leaving about 45 minutes after arriving, and within that time Singh and her domestic worker were terrorised, according to a source close to the police investigations.
While she had no visible injuries, it is believed Singh may have suffered a panic attack or heart attack, although police believe she could have died through suffocation.
The mother of two had been lying down in her bedroom when she and her domestic worker were confronted. It is not yet clear how the intruders entered the unit, which has a security gate at the front door, but there appeared to be no signs of forced entry.
Singh’s 35-year-old domestic worker, who was assaulted and also gagged and bound with cable ties, managed to roll down a flight of stairs to the outside, where she alerted another domestic worker.
The men fled the scene, taking only two cellphones belonging to Singh.
“Everybody is shocked, we’re all traumatised,” said a complex resident who was among the first on the murder scene. She said she “went cold” when she saw Singh’s body on the floor of her upstairs bedroom. She was in her night clothes.
“I started to cry. I was absolutely stunned,” the neighbour said, requesting anonymity. “Her son who had returned was in the next room. He was hysterical. He is highly traumatised.”
Singh’s bedroom had been ransacked, she said, with clothes strewn on the floor and foreign currency notes on the bed. No electronic appliances or valuables were taken.
As Singh’s devastated family rallied around her two children, Mchunu vowed to get police to find the murderers and do more to keep crime-weary South Africans safer.
“Police must not lock themselves in the office but be out in the field patrolling these areas as a preventative measure so innocent people, like Singh, are not killed,” he told POST on Tuesday.
He said police needed to be more visible in communities.
MP Narend Singh, who went to the crime scene on Monday, said criminals had no fear and had started targeting complexes.
“Helpless people like the elderly are easy victims,” he said. “We have too many unemployed people walking the streets and those who come out on bail or parole tend to get involved in crime.”
The MP said unemployment was fuelling crime in society and it needed to be addressed.
Shakila’s cousin, Jerome Singh, said his relative had moved to the complex from the South Coast 16 years ago, after her husband, Veerand Singh, a businessman, died in a car accident.
“She retired from teaching and moved to Musgrave to be closer to her family. Veerand would have turned 60 last Sunday and one of her last posts on Facebook was a moving tribute to him about how much she loved and missed him.”
Shakila had posted on Sunday: “Happy heavenly birthday to the most wonderful husband and father of two precious sons.”
Said Jerome: “I cannot understand why the gate to the complex was left open. Every time we visited her the gates were always closed and the electric fence was on. It was very difficult for us to even get in.”
A domestic worker in a neighbouring unit said she, too, was shocked. Nelly Mbangwe said she had been washing dishes when she heard muffled screams outside. At first she ignored it but when another domestic worker from across her screamed she knew something was wrong.
“The other domestic worker was making hand actions pointing to the staircase where Jabu (Singh’s domestic worker, whose surname could not be confirmed by time of publication) was lying. Jabu was trying to scream for help but as I got closer I noticed she had been gagged and her hands and feet were bound with cable ties. I screamed for help.”
Mbangwe’s screams alerted other residents who came to the home to assist.
Her employer, Desigan Naidoo, 41, said he rushed home after his wife called him with the horrifying news.”We don’t expect people to be so brazen and just walk into homes and cause such harm and damage,” he said.
He said he chose to live in a complex for safety. “Being in a complex, you expect a certain level of security because there are high walls, security guards and electric fencing.”
Another resident who wished to remain anonymous said she was in a state of shock. Said the 60-year-old woman, who has been living at the complex for six years: “The complex is very secure, it’s one of the reasons I like living here, but now I am fearful for my safety.”
A trustee from the complex, Zak Khan, who was at home when the incident happened, said complex residents needed to be vigilant.
“Someone left the complex but failed to watch the gate closing, which is when the suspects probably entered the property.”
Police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said a case of murder and house robbery was being investigated and no arrests had been made.
Singh’s funeral has been tentatively set for Wednesday.
THE POST