Cape Town - 30-year-ol Sithobelele Qebe, who is charged with the murder of Siphokazi Booi whom he was dating, appeared in the Paarl Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The body of Siphokazi was found burnt beyond recognition on Sunday close to the Mbekweni railway station.
This shocked the community and it resulted in pickets with the accused’s house demolished and his car set alight on Monday.
“I am happy that he is still confessing to killing her,” said Siphokazi’s aunt Nontando Booi.
“We cannot change what happened, we are still hurting as the family. We really tried getting Siphokazi out of that abusive relationship but we failed. We want him to rot in jail for what he did.”
She said she was confused when the bail application was mentioned in court.
“I thought there would be no talks of bail because he confessed. This case must not drag on because there is not much to investigate.”
Outside court, community members were singing with placards demanding that the suspect not be given bail. The community held a vigil on Monday night with the family.
Sithobelele was out on bail and set to appear in court next month for assaulting Siphokazi before allegedly killing her over the weekend. The two had no children together.
During the court appearance, the state said it would prove Sithobelele had intentionally killed Siphokazi and burnt her body. After beating her, it is said he wanted to get rid of her body and decided to burn it.
“His case was remanded until Monday for further investigation,” said NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila.
“The accused has another case against him, of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after he beat up Siphokazi Booi. He is supposed to return to court for that case on October 4, 2021. The State is going to combine the two cases and will oppose the accused’s bail application.”
The family said they will communicate funeral arrangements when their child’s body has been released to them.
Weekend Argus