A love triangle ended with a teenage girl being stabbed to death in Delft.
Owethu Cako, 16, died on New Year’s Day just after midnight in Suburban.
She had apparently been going out with a 20-year-old man who had also been seeing the 28-year-old murder suspect.
When the teen fell pregnant last year, her rival allegedly tried to stab her in the stomach.
According to her friend’s mom Owethu had been in a relationship with the man for about two years.
The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, explains: “My daughter had been injured several times trying to defend Owethu. The suspect would stop them on the road and attack them.
“On the day Owethu died my daughter was stabbed several times in the arms, hands and face. She has been left traumatised because she lost her best friend.
“The root of this animosity was Owethu’s boyfriend, the rivalry started in 2022.”
She says when her daughter came home with ripped clothes she didn’t ask too many questions.
The mother adds: “She wouldn’t tell me about what happened, one day I saw the jacket she was wearing was torn and I didn’t ask and she didn’t tell.
“And she also had wounds, I should have asked but I thought because they are teenagers they will sort it out.
“I didn’t know how deep this was, that she would fight for her friend.
“The suspect is older than the boyfriend and them, she would go after Owethu and hit her and then swear at her. Even when she was pregnant she was trying to stab her in the stomach.”
Owethu leaves behind a three-month-old baby boy.
Her hartseer father Thembelani Wright says when he arrived at the hospital his child had already died.
He says: “She was stabbed between her breast and armpit. I didn’t know about a love triangle until the incident.
“We didn’t know the suspect, I saw her for the first time in court.”
Owethu would have been Grade 12 this year, she was a learner at Delft High School.
Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi confirms the 28-year-old woman’s arrest on a charge of murder.
He explains that the Delft police responded to a complaint in the early hours of Monday January 1, says: “Upon their arrival at a local medical facility, they found the body of a female aged 16 who sustained multiple stab wounds. The victim was declared deceased by the medical personnel. The motive for this attack is unknown.”
The suspect will appear in the Bellville Magistrate’s court on Wednesday for bail information.
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za