Tuesday, June 29, 1999

Executed women may take clues to grave

When 25-year-old Sheriza Singh and the man she claimed was her live-in lover, Gavin Wessels, are laid to rest this week, they may take with them the truth behind their gruesome murders and the apparently senseless killings of three other women in Kwadukuza (formerly Stanger), on the KwaZulu Natal north coast. Singh witnessed the shooting of Wessels at the Just Friends nightclub, apparently at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, early on Sunday.

Police say she claimed to be living with the popular IFP councillor and businessman, although she was too emotional to make an official statement at the time. She apparently then went home to her family farm."She was to have come in to make a statement yesterday," said Superintendent K Naidoo. However, on Sunday evening, four gunmen wearing balaclavas attacked the house. With single shots to the head, they executed Singh, her 73-year-old grandmother Sabkhree Singh, her mother Nirmala Singh (40), and a friend, Meriska Naiker (18). A relative, Vijen Singh (21), was seriously injured and is in a critical condition.

Wessels' brother Anton denied there had been any relationship between Sheriza and Gavin, saying his family did not know her at all. "He went to the nightclub alone, got into an argument and was shot at point-blank range. This was so unnecessary," he said. He said his brother, although estranged from his wife, had been in daily contact with her recently with a view to reconciling. Singh's family also could not shed any light on the incident.

A close friend commented that it was sheer speculation that the disco shooting and the farmhouse killings were linked. Police are also hesitant to connect the two incidents. "The only link is Sheriza, and while everything may point to a connection because she was at the club, it would be dangerous to say it for sure," said Naidoo. However, he said, the style of the farmhouse murders did not point to ordinary robbery.

A man arrested immediately after the shooting of Gavin Wessels will appear in court today.

Source: IoL

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