Carol’s Column

Hellish end to life for an unknown teenager

I have a teenage daughter called Nicola. She is young and lovely and cherished. On Friday, she finished writing her end-of-the-year exams at the University of Cape Town, and in two weeks she'll return to Johannesburg for the holidays.

I can't wait to see her.

On Saturday morning, on a vacant lot in Schuurweberg, an industrial part of Pretoria, near Atteridgeville, the body of a teenage girl was found necklaced. She'd been burnt beyond recognition.

The police believe she might have been 15, perhaps 13 or 14. Tests show she was young, female and black.

In the early hours of Saturday last week the police received a call to say her body had been discovered, with the tell-tale necklace tyre around it.

She had been strangled by a piece of wire that had been cruelly tightened around her neck with a pair of pliers. The ends had been neatly cut by her killer or killers. Her hands had been similarly tied before her young body was squeezed through two tyres, petrol thrown over her, and she was set alight.

The results of the post mortem show that there was smoke in her lungs, which means that she was still alive when necklaced. The police working on the case, used to the constant sight of brutality, are shocked by the tragedy. When describing the scene to me, Captain Faizel Kader kept using the words "sad" and "pathetic".

Loving family

She was carrying a small purse. The remnants were found in her burnt clothing, under her body lay a R2 coin, while nearby was a five cent piece.

Last week, like Nicola, she was an enthusiastic, vibrant teenager. She probably liked listening to loud pop music, as teenagers do, and perhaps she had a boyfriend. She definitely had friends with whom she giggled and shared secrets, and, like Nicola, she probably preferred their company to the company of her schoolbooks. She probably had a family who loved and cared for her.

As yet, nobody has reported a teenage girl missing. But then, because of past legacies, African families have been torn apart and her non-appearance may not have been unusual. Perhaps she was spending time with a relative or a friend.

Yet on Saturday she was strangled and necklaced. Was it political, sexual, just another random killing? What unbridled violence results in such an ugly death? What has happened to South Africa in which such a thing is possible?

I spoke to Nicola this morning just to reassure myself that she was well. Her voice bubbled down the line. She was off to buy a pair of sandals at Greenmarket Square.

Meanwhile, somewhere near Schuurweberg, a mother is waiting for her teenage daughter to return.

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