Nearly a year after a Manenberg teen was killed and stuffed in a wheelie bin, her jealous berk is set to stand trial at the Wynberg Regional Court.
For the family of slain Elene Lino, 19, the first Christmas without her was filled with tears as relatives were gripped by grief as they prepared for the long-awaited trial.
The body of the friendly teen was found on January 9, 2022 by her sister Candice Baartman just hours after neighbours heard the couple fighting.
Candice, 27, was left traumatised when she arrived home that morning to find blood in the doorway of the family home and begun searching for Elene.
She found Elene’s boyfriend, Gavin Manuel, several streets away pushing a wheelie bin and, when confronted, he left the bin behind and ran away.
Candice made the horrific discovery when she saw Elene’s feet and realised she had been killed.
Manenberg police embarked on a manhunt and interviewed Manuel’s ex-wife and daughter who initially denied knowing where he was.
Mayhem broke out in the Cape Flats community as angry mense went on the hunt, pelting the homes of various innocent people amid false claims that Gavin was hiding inside them.
Clever cops discovered that his daughter Abwinita Prins, 22, had been hiding him in Mitchells Plain and she was brought in for questioning.
Her cellphone revealed that she had lied to cops for nearly a week and tipped her father off each time the investigation team was close. He was later arrested hiding among bergies in Town Centre.
Candice says the family attended court proceedings last month where they were told that Manuel would now stand trial for murder and defeating the ends of justice.
“We did not go to the postponements because my heart was not strong enough. All his bail applications were denied.”
She says Christmas Day was filled with tears as the family could not celebrate.
“Elene was always the first person to wish anyone. I woke up just in tears knowing this year she wasn’t here. She would get up and hug everyone and ask what we making.
“On Christmas Day, I bought food and couldn’t even eat. It hurts us to know that his family can go and see him. He can have a meal on Christmas Day but Elene can’t,” Candice explains.
“They go to him and visit him; we must go to a cold grave where we cannot get an answer from her.”
The trial is set to begin on February 3 where Elene’s family will call on the courts to give Manuel life in the mang.
“We want him to get life. We are waiting to hear what he is going to plead but if he says not guilty and goes on trial, I am ready to testify. I saw him push the bin and he saw me, that is why he ran away.”
Candice says: “Gavin [Manuel] and Elene had been together for a long time but he was always abusive. She used to be with his son but then they got together and he left his wife for her.
“I came home and they were skelling again and I didn’t have lus so I left to my friend.”
She says she returned after midnight and found Gavin, 49, busy in the yard with a wheelie bin: “I saw blood on him and he told me that his ex-wife sent people to moer him.
“Then I asked him what happened to the vullis from the bin and he told me the dog took it out and it didn’t sound right to me. I went into my house and found the whole place deurmekaar and there was blood and I chased after him.”
Candice says she caught up with Gavin near Olga Court. He allegedly dumped the bin and fled.
Police spokesperson sergeant Wesley Twigg confirmed the incident and said at the time: “The circumstances surrounding the death of a 19-year-old female in Olga Court is under investigation. Manenberg police were called to the scene where they found the victim in the bin.
“The suspect fled the scene.”
Manuel’s wife Washiela, 49, says she got a skrik when she heard about the murder.
She explains she had been separated from Gavin for nearly six years.
“He wanted to be with her so I put him out. We don’t know what he was doing but in all this time he was terrorising me and my family.
“He wanted his bread buttered on both sides with a wife and a girlfriend and when I rejected him, he became aggressive and that is why I have an interdict against him. We have nothing to do with what happened,” she adds.
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