SHE cuts a lone figure in the courtroom. Busi Khumalo, mother of murdered model Zanele Khumalo, yearns for her daughter as she listens to mitigation of sentence for the man convicted of killing her child.
Khumalo, who yesterday sat in courtroom GC - next to where Oscar Pistorius stands trial for the murder of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, in room GD - said she understood what Reeva's mother, June Steenkamp, was going through.
"I feel her pain. If I could, I would sit next to her, hold her hand and tell her that I understand. Our pain is so similar."
Thato Kutumela was convicted on November 13 last year of raping and strangling his 18-year-old girlfriend Zanele.
She was killed in April 2011.
While in the Pretoria High Court the Pistorius courtroom was packed with local and international media inside - and some outside - Kutumela's courtroom had only a few members of the media and his and Zanele's family.
Khumalo, like Steenkamp, spent most of the time outside court during the trial.
Khumalo said she could not bear to repeatedly listen to what happened to her daughter.
"Listening to people talk about her again and again is killing me," she said.
"It is not easy to accept that a child you left in good health in the morning when you went to work suddenly died.
"I find it difficult to sit in the same room with the man who killed my child as well as with his family.
"It is so painful, I don't know how to explain it."
"I could not sit there [in court] and look at him [Kutumela] and his family the whole day.
"I will never see my child again, [but] his family has the pleasure of talking to him and touching him.
"Maybe I would feel better if he or his family came to us and apologised.
"I would feel better if he told the court exactly what happened."
She said she would deal with the heartache no matter how painful the process was.
"She [Zanele] has left a huge space in our hearts and home. Her sisters miss her."
During mitigation yesterday, clinical psychologist Suzette Heath testified that Kutumela insisted that he did not kill Khumalo and therefore showed no remorse.
Heath said Kutumela "needs to be rehabilitated".
"He is not violent, but [he is] moody, sulky and withdrawn. He does not adapt to change quickly and keeps things inside."
The case continues today.
This was published by the Sowetan Newspaper on 07 March 2014.
'Reeva's mom and I similar'
SHE cuts a lone figure in the courtroom. Busi Khumalo, mother of murdered model Zanele Khumalo, yearns for her daughter as she listens to mitigation of sentence for the man convicted of killing her child.
Khumalo, who yesterday sat in courtroom GC - next to where Oscar Pistorius stands trial for the murder of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, in room GD - said she understood what Reeva's mother, June Steenkamp, was going through.
"I feel her pain. If I could, I would sit next to her, hold her hand and tell her that I understand. Our pain is so similar."
Thato Kutumela was convicted on November 13 last year of raping and strangling his 18-year-old girlfriend Zanele.
She was killed in April 2011.
While in the Pretoria High Court the Pistorius courtroom was packed with local and international media inside - and some outside - Kutumela's courtroom had only a few members of the media and his and Zanele's family.
Khumalo, like Steenkamp, spent most of the time outside court during the trial.
Khumalo said she could not bear to repeatedly listen to what happened to her daughter.
"Listening to people talk about her again and again is killing me," she said.
"It is not easy to accept that a child you left in good health in the morning when you went to work suddenly died.
"I find it difficult to sit in the same room with the man who killed my child as well as with his family.
"It is so painful, I don't know how to explain it."
"I could not sit there [in court] and look at him [Kutumela] and his family the whole day.
"I will never see my child again, [but] his family has the pleasure of talking to him and touching him.
"Maybe I would feel better if he or his family came to us and apologised.
"I would feel better if he told the court exactly what happened."
She said she would deal with the heartache no matter how painful the process was.
"She [Zanele] has left a huge space in our hearts and home. Her sisters miss her."
During mitigation yesterday, clinical psychologist Suzette Heath testified that Kutumela insisted that he did not kill Khumalo and therefore showed no remorse.
Heath said Kutumela "needs to be rehabilitated".
"He is not violent, but [he is] moody, sulky and withdrawn. He does not adapt to change quickly and keeps things inside."
The case continues today.
This was published by the Sowetan Newspaper on 07 March 2014.
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