A Manenberg teen has died after a vicious attack over the weekend when he was stabbed and apparently hit with an axe by a group of skollies and left to die on a veldtjie.
The heartbroken family of Vanchesco Harris, 18, says the attack happened shortly after 7pm on Saturday while he was walking to buy entjies at a nearby shop.
Mom, Georgina, 38, says she is still traumatised after seeing her dying son’s blood spill onto her gown as they rushed him to hospital.
“He spent the day with his father and on Saturday he was at home with a friend,” the mother says.
“He went to buy cigarettes on his own. I was at home thinking he is taking long and we told his friend to go look for him because he doesn’t usually stay away long. Then a small boy came here shouting that they are stabbing him on the veldtjie and we ran.”
Georgina says they were told a group of men attacked Vanchesco and stole his chain.
The family found him with multiple stab wounds across his body.
“He was bleeding all over and it looked like they also hit him with an axe in the back. We took him to Heideveld hospital and I tried to keep him awake the whole time, but when we got there they told us his lungs were punctured and he died,” says Georgina.
Police spokesperson, Captain FC van Wyk, says Manenberg police have since arrested a 27-year-old man for the murder.
The suspect, Trevor Abrahams, made his first appearance in the Athlone Magistrate's Court on Wednesday and will be remanded in custody until 10 October for a bail information hearing.
Vanchesco’s heartbroken father, Gabriel, 46, says his son had been working as a caretaker at a school in Claremont for the past two months to support his family.
“He was a good laaitie who worked for what he wanted. I think he may have talked back or tried to fight his attackers,” Gabriel says.
“We are very heartsore because he could walk anywhere in the area because he was not a part of any gang.”
In further bad news, Georgina says they’ve been informed that her son’s life policy would not be paying out as their last payment was three days late.
“It was only three days and we paid, but they say they won’t help us cover the funeral. We can’t eat or sleep. Just last week Vanchesco took his mattress to the lounge and told me he is giving up his room for Cami, four, our foster child because she is getting big and needs her own room and we only have two rooms in the house,” the broken mom says.