The devastated family of slain Bassier van der Schyff, 30, who was stabbed 17 times, allegedly by his sister’s boyfriend, was shocked to hear that his case had been withdrawn.
Suspect Ebraheem Abrahams, 24, lived with the family at their home in Seal Street, Gleemoor in Athlone.
Bassier’s sister Mariam Abrahams says her brother was killed early on Monday morning.
“It was past five in the morning, we heard thuds, my mother and my daughter ran upstairs and as they ran my brother was busy crawling on the floor because [the suspect] had [allegedly] stabbed him 17 times all over his body,” Mariam explains.
“When my mother asked him, ‘What is happening?’ he took his shoes and put his knife in his pocket and jumped over my mother while she was holding my brother and he ran out of our house.
“We tried to save my brother for an hour but unfortunately he was stabbed in the neck, in his face and all over his body.”
She says two other men in the room told the family that they had just returned from Cubana and that Bassier asked Ebraheem to get off his bed before they started arguing.
Abrahams appeared at Athlone Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday but the case was provisionally withdrawn because Bassier’s mother’s statement was “not strong enough”.
“All the evidence, the pictures of the place that looked like a murder scene ... they said there is nothing like that in the docket,” Mariam adds.
Police spokesperson captain FC van Wyk says: “Circumstances surrounding this fatal stabbing incident are under investigation. Motive is currently unknown.”
marsha.dean@inl.co.za