A Parkwood mother was viciously stabbed to death by her jealous husband while driving on Ottery Road on Thursday, resulting in a crash that brought traffic to a halt.
The family of Miché Samuels, 35, were devastated when they were called to the scene to find her dead in the driver’s seat of her red Fiat Palio.
She had been stabbed multiple times while her one-year-old daughter sat in the backseat.
According to a police source, the crime scene was chaotic as witnesses ran after her Bangladeshi husband Abdul Salam, 39, as he tried to escape.
“We got there after 11am and the whole scene was deurmekaar,” says the source.
“It appears to be a domestic dispute where he stabbed her while she was driving and she ended up crashing into another car.
“Witnesses chased after him and he was placed in a Law Enforcement car.
“He even threw the knife away, but we found it on a sports field and took his sweater because it was covered in blood.
“The baby girl was on the backseat and was taken to the police station.
“In the boot we found divorce papers, but didn’t go through it. She was stabbed three times in the chest.”
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk confirms the husband has been charged with murder.
Miche’s stepfather Daniel Beck, 65, says the family was called to the scene by the husband who called Miché’s mother moments after stabbing her.
“My wife Patricia got a call from him saying Miché is between life and death and then he gave the location,” he told the Daily Voice.
“We are shocked and devastated because he was never violent, but we know he was very jealous.”
Daniel explains the couple was married for seven years and have three children, two sons and a daughter, but says the relationship soured when the husband could not find work.
“He had shops in Bloemfontein before they got married but squandered his money,” he says.
“He couldn’t find work in Cape Town and did odd jobs at huiswinkels run by his friends.
“She was working at a flights company and he forced her to leave her job, smashed her cellphones and destroyed the sim cards. He was very jealous.
“The real problem came in when he wanted Miché and the children to move to Bangladesh with him and I said hell, no.
“Then he started isolating her from the family. The last time I saw her was a month ago.
“We didn’t know about the divorce papers, but that could have been the reason he killed her.”
monique.duval@inl.co.za