With the last of the accused in the #Krugersdorpmurders case being sentenced soon, and the families of the victims receiving some form of consolation and closure, the Mentoor family fills my thoughts.
I cannot help but think about this family which is still waiting, almost a year and a half after the disappearance of three-year-old Liyaqat ‘Lee’ Mentoor, for answers and closure.
Lee went missing on 16 March last year, while he was in the care of his mother’s then boyfriend, Onke Hartin Mashinini. It is said that Mashinini was supposed to drop Lee off at his grandmother’s home later that afternoon, but decided to go earlier, even though he knew that nobody would be at home. He claims that, when he arrived there, a couple, who told him that they were family, was already waiting. They allegedly said they would take Lee to his grandmother’s place of work. Lee has not been seen or heard of again.
When the family went to the police station to open a missing person’s case, the policeman who helped them, advised them that Mashinini should be taken into custody and questioned in regard to the incident.
They arrested him on the same day, and, to this day, he has stuck to his version of the story, and has not said a word during his countless court appearances. Not even when he was informed that, after blood belonging to Lee was found in the bathroom of his house, charges of pre-meditated murder would be added to his case.
After almost a year of appearances in the Roodepoort Magistrates’ Court, which included two bail applications, and countless postponements, the case was, to the family’s relief, transferred to the Johannesburg High Court.
But, their relief was short-lived, as the case was postponed three more times before a trial date was set, and even on the trial date, the family was disappointed when the Prosecutor informed them that there was an older case they had to finalise first, before they could get to their case, resulting in yet another postponement.
Even though I am truly relieved and happy about the fact the family and friends of the #Krugersdorpmurders victims will now be able to close the book on the horrible story they were forced to be part of, my heart goes out to the Mentoor family, which is left with many unanswered questions, no closure and an open book with an unfinished chapter.
I am asking you, the community, to keep this family in your prayers and thoughts, as a mother yearns for her son and a grandmother cries for her beloved grandchild. May they find the answers they need to provide the much-needed closure very soon.
Until next week …
