Murder he wrote: Dad publishes book to honour hero son
|Published
CHANNELED HIS PAIN: Cornelius Basson, 59, wrote about losing son
From living every parent’s worst nightmare, to putting all his emotions into a book to honour his late son, Cornelius Basson says he can now finally close a painful chapter in his life.
Cornelius, 59, has been jotting down the emotions he found hard to put into words ever since his youngest son was killed in 2018.
Chad was only 19 years old when he was shot dead in a drive-by shooting in Mitchells Plain.
The brave young man, who was posthumously awarded with the National Order of Mendi for Bravery by President Cyril Ramaphosa, died a hero after he threw himself in front of his friends when a volley of skote was fired in their direction.
The alleged shooter, Jeffrey “Percy” Afrika, was acquitted of all charges in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court earlier this year, “due to a lack of evidence, unreliable State witnesses and an incompetent investigating officer”, according to Magistrate Mary Jwacu.
Cornelius has since completed a 150-page book and launched it on Saturday at an event hosted at the Salvation Army Church in Lentegeur.
Speaking to the Daily Voice from his home, Cornelius held up his book, titled Not All Heroes Wear Capes, and said: “This is for you, my son.”
The pa says writing was his saving grace: “I decided to write the book because I wanted the world to know about my son and the amazing person he was, because I honestly felt I was going to die from a broken heart and I couldn’t go before doing this for him.”
“When I started writing it, myself and my wife were basically living off sleeping pills and not even that helped us sleep, this was the only thing that kept me sane.
“I sat day and night just writing from the heart.”
Cornelius says the first chapter is a loving letter to his son, in which he speaks to him about the “what ifs and whys”.
“In the second chapter, I detail our frustrations and how we basically had to track down our son’s killer, until the Anti-Gang-Unit helped us with the case.
“I can’t tell you too much, you need to buy the book to read more, but I can tell you there are colour pictures in,” he smiled.
Cornelius thanked his publisher, Esraa Jacobs of Executive Assistance, for her patience and confidence in his book, and his wife and children for their unwavering support.
“To the community, the investigating team and the media, thank you too, thank you for helping to keep my son's legacy alive.”