A Cape Town mother has been left heartbroken after her son was beaten to death, allegedly by her own best friend.
|||Cape Town - A Cape Town mother has been left heartbroken after her son was beaten to death, allegedly by her own best friend.
Nineteen-year-old Siphelele Ngcitima was allegedly held captive for five harrowing hours during which he was apparently beaten.
He was only released when neighbours called an ambulance after hearing his painful cries coming from a woman’s house.
When an ambulance arrived at the New Crossroads house, Siphelele was barely conscious and had a broken arm and neck.
The teenager was accused of stealing a TV and DVD player.
He was admitted to hospital on Sunday and was unconscious for five days before passing away on Thursday night.
In a surprise twist, police on Tuesday arrested Siphelele’s mother’s best friend.
The 52-year-old woman is now behind bars.
“The woman was arrested for murder and is set to appear at court as soon as she is charged,” says Captain FC Van Wyk.
Siphelele’s mom, Lilian Ngcitima, 59, tells the Daily Voice she watched her friend take her son to her house, armed with a big knife.
“I didn’t think that she would beat him to the point that he would end up dead,” says Lilian.
“She came to my house at 7.30am that Sunday morning and asked for my son and informed me that her appliances were missing.
“She took Siphelele to her home when I followed them I saw her with a big knife.
Lilian adds: “My son was fighting to get it from her.
“He let go when she knocked his head onto the wall and hit him with a piece of wood.
“I didn’t want to intervene because I couldn’t be sure Siphelele didn’t take her things and also I didn’t want her to think I was taking his side.”
Lillian says she left for work and got a call later the afternoon to say her son had been taken to hospital.
When she saw him he was mangled and unconscious.
“His eyes were open but he was still unconscious,” she explains.
When she went back to Groote Schuur Hospital days later, she was told to go to the morgue.
“He was there [in the morgue], his face looked really bad,” she says.
“Even if he was alive, he would have been left paralysed.”
“I just didn’t think my friend, a woman whom I spent most days with, would actually kill my son.”
She says her son was no angel but did not deserve to be killed in such a cruel manner.
“Look, I’m not sure he was on drugs but I did suspect that he was using [tik], and he was also violent,” Lilian told the Daily Voice.
“He didn’t deserve to die like that.”
Daily Voice