Anlie MacDonald is a woman haunted by the memory of her murdered son – all while a year-long police probe into his death has seemingly stalled.
“All that the investigating officer can tell me is that they are waiting on Pretoria for the results and until then nothing will move forward. His murder haunts me, especially just thinking about those who killed him still walking free,” she said.
Desmond Roberts, 22, took his last breaths at his rented home on Boundary Road in Escombe.
His death was initially ruled a suicide, with his girlfriend claiming that she had watched him stab himself in the chest and thereafter slit his own throat.
Days later police escalated the probe to one of murder, and set about delving into the last moments of his life.
But more than a year later, officers are still no closer to making an arrest and MacDonald and her family have been unable to find peace.
“They tell us that they have finally got the crime scene photographs back and we are still waiting on the toxicology report and DNA analysis of the knife. It’s been more than a year ... we have no closure and we can’t start healing while this whole thing is up in the air,” she said.
“I would never have accepted that my son committed suicide, not with two stabs to his chest and the fact that his throat was slit. The pathologist told us that his neck was 70% severed and no one would say that someone could do that to themselves,” she added.
She said Roberts was cremated in the weeks following his death, but she is holding his ashes until there is justice.
“This has become about more than Desmond, this is about the police and the immense backlog. If his case has been delayed I can only think that there are thousands of others just like his,” she said.
“This is not a new year and this is not a house which is joyous; his death lingers here,” MacDonald added. Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said the matter remained under investigation and confirmed that no arrests have been made.
Allegations regarding the backlog at the police’s forensic laboratory and pointed questions were put to Mbele and she did not respond. She could not be reached for comment at the time of publishing...