Thelma Maritz, mom of Trevor Maritz who was stabbed to death, says she will never be at peace until she finds justice.
|||Cape Town - The taking of a child’s life is the greatest insult possible, says Thelma Maritz, the mother of Trevor Maritz, 16, who was stabbed to death, apparently by burglars, in his bedroom in Eerste River two years ago.
Last week, Donovan Rich, 37, and his stepson, Abdullah Cassiem-Londt, 23, were acquitted of murder and aggravated robbery.
On Wednesday, Maritz, for whom the court case did not bring closure, said: “I don’t think my life will ever be the same. The reality of his death is still so unreal. Just last week I woke up calling out his name, it was like he was there and that I could sense him.”
But during this period of 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, Trevor was “just another statistic”.
“This year it was particularly hard for me,” she said. “He would have been 18 and finishing his matric now.
“We spoke about buying him a car.”
With tears spilling down her cheeks, she added: “You can’t get over something like this.”
Maritz vividly remembers July 8, 2011, the day Trevor died.
It was a Friday during the school holidays, and she had gone to work, leaving the 16-year-old at home. But when she tried to call him the phone at their Eerste River home went unanswered.
Trevor was not at his grandmother’s or aunt’s home and he was not on the sportsfield. When Maritz arrived home she noticed the gate was open, but the doors were locked.
“My bedroom window never closed properly, so I tried to open it from outside. I then moved the curtain and saw my bed and room was in a mess. I immediately knew that he must be inside.”
Feeling frantic she phoned ADT security who called the police.
“They told me to stay outside while they went in.”
Trevor was found in his bedroom with multiple stab wounds.
Maritz went into a deep depression and later saw an occupational therapist. The family has since moved to Pinelands to get away from all the memories. “I made a memory box with some of his things.”
She removed various items including deodorant, aftershave, a wallet, school diary and photo album and placed them on the coffee table.
“This was his first real man aftershave. I also have his primary school tie,” she said holding it up.
“I made a photo album and just took everything I could find and held dear and placed it in this box.”
Maritz said Trevor always talked about being an entrepreneur like his dad.
“But after a school camp in April 2011 he had more perspective on what he wanted to be. They were asked to write a letter on what they wanted to have achieved by matric, and they were supposed to open it this year. And in it he wrote that he wanted to be a counsellor.”
The heartbroken mom said she would never find peace if she didn’t do all she could to find justice.
“How do you find closure?
“I still hope that there is somebody out there, a witness perhaps, who will come forward.
“If you are a parent, how do you sit back and say nothing?”
She said she was never happy with the full investigation.
“The murder weapon was there, but no fingerprints were found because it was too bloody.
“There were shoe prints too.”
What made his death so hard to bear was that he was taken away so cruelly. “I wasn’t there to protect him.”
natasha.bezuidenhout@inl.co.za
Cape Argus