THE family of Palesa Matlamela wants justice after she was killed, allegedly by her “abusive” boyfriend.
Her mother, Eunice (47), said she was broken and could still not believe that her daughter was gone.
She said she was at home in Sandringham, Joburg, on Sunday, 4 September, when she received a call from the hospital saying Palesa (28) had died.
As she was leaving, a friend of Palesa’s boyfriend arrived and told her that the boyfriend had told him Palesa did not wake up in the morning.
“I told him I had just received the news that my daughter had died and I was heading to the hospital.”
Eunice said when she arrived, Palesa was wearing a gown and covered in rags from a sangoma.
“I asked to see the report her boyfriend had given, and it said Palesa was beaten by a woman at a tavern and hit with a pole,” she said.
Eunice told Daily Sun the boyfriend had been abusing her for years.
“I once tried to open a case against him after he butchered my daughter with a knife, but police told me only Palesa could open it,” she said.
Eunice said she once had to take Palesa to the dentist after the boyfriend had allegedly broken two of her teeth.
“She would tell me that if she left him, he would kill her,” she said.
Eunice said for two months before her death, Palesa was living with her as he had kicked her out of his house.
Spokeswoman Colonel Dimakatso Sello said a case of murder was opened and the suspect had handed himself over to the police.
