Last weekend the Monswamy family danced and toasted the beginning of a new chapter in their lives at an engagement party.
This weekend family and friends will bury Alan Monswamy, 52, his wife Sandy, 57, their children Kraidon, 26, and Shamaria, 20, as well as Sandy’s mom Mooniamma Padayachee, 78, brother Gonasagren Padayachee, 51, and aunt Mariamma Appanah, 83, after their killing in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
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The seven were abducted in the early hours of Tuesday from their Newark home near KwaDukuza, bound and taken on a hell ride 200km to their death in Melmoth.
Sandy’s brother-in-law, Kesaven Pillay, said his wife, Karen and her twin sister Kareen were devastated.
“Last weekend we were all together, and everyone was so happy for Kraidon and his fiancee Melissa.”
“It was a celebration at her house, and we were all there to celebrate and mark the beginning of their life together. Now to think a few days later they suffered the way they did; it’s unbelievable.”
He said they were preparing for the funeral on Sunday, and it was heartbreaking to process the loss.
“At least we have the memories of the engagement party and how happy they were to carry with us in our hearts instead of thinking of what they went through in the end.”
The men allegedly terrorised the family and raped one of the women before tying them up and loading them into Monswamy’s bakkie.
They were driven to Melmoth, where, after collecting their personal identification numbers and banking details, the woman who was raped was sexually assaulted a second time. Then the suspects allegedly fatally shot three victims and stabbed the others to death.
One of the men, known to the family, allegedly worked for Monswamy in his engineering and construction business.
The men are believed to have made several bank transfers from the victims’ accounts on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
The family’s helper raised the alarm about the abduction on Wednesday morning when she found the front door broken, the house ransacked and no one present.
She alerted the neighbours. They called the police, who had also been tipped off by the girlfriend of one of the victims after she failed to reach him.
A combined investigating team comprising members of the KwaDukuza police, counterintelligence, kidnapping, serious and violent crime and the tactical response units soon led to two suspects in the Hlomendlini area not far from the family home and a third suspect in Sundumbili on Wednesday.
Police recovered a bakkie and 11 cellphones belonging to the victims.
KwaZulu-Natal premier Thami Ntuli said police were currently hunting a fourth man wanted in connection with the crime.
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The suspects ― aged 21, 26 and 28 ― were scheduled to appear in the KwaDukuza court on Friday, but it was postponed by arrangement between the National Prosecuting Authority and police to next week.
The funeral for the seven victims will be held at the Stanger High School sports ground in KwaDukuza between 9am and noon, proceeding to the Stanger crematorium at 1.30pm.
