Image: Supplied
Less than five months before she was left bloody and bruised — with a crude swearword carved into her forehead — Moesha Magotha suffered a devastating blow when her mother died in a car crash.
Now, the 18-year-old from Port Elizabeth, who was in the car with her mother at the time of the accident, is fighting for her own life in Livingstone Hospital.
She is in a critical condition.
Just days before Moesha was horrifically stabbed and beaten, she had allegedly received threatening messages from a man in Alexandria, a little more than 100km from Port Elizabeth, her sister Gail said on Friday.
Gail said Moesha and the man had been in a relationship but Moesha had not known he was married and when she had queried his marital status — after being informed he had a wife — the man had said people were lying and he was single.
He continued to pursue Moesha, who in May, after her mother’s death, had moved back to Port Elizabeth from Alexandria where she had been living.
When Gail, 22, speaks of the attack on her younger sister, she wavers between anger and sadness.
She cannot believe that anyone could hurt her sister in such a cruel manner.’
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
Police spokesperson Capt Mali Govender confirmed that Hendricks had appeared in court on Friday and had been denied bail.
He is facing attempted murder charges.
“The suspect was arrested following a report of a suspicious noise from a member of the public, coming from a house in the Kwanonqubela township in Alexandria.
“On arrival at the scene, the suspect was in the company of a severely beaten female.
“The 18-year-old victim was taken to a local hospital and later transferred to a hospital in Port Elizabeth.
“She is in a critical condition,” Govender said.
Xolisa Runeli, the EFF’s PR councillor in the Ndlambe municipality, led a group of about 300 people who protested outside the Alexandria magistrate’s court on Friday.
The protesters were calling for bail to be denied.
Runeli said the protest had been prompted by the sheer brutality of the attack.
“It was the brutality, the horrific pictures we saw.
“He went as far as branding her. His intention was to kill her.
“He saw her as if she had no value. Who could live with the word p**s carved in her head?” Runeli said.
He said protests would take place every time the man appeared in court.
“He was denied bail but will be back on October 27. We will be there throughout.
“We hope she will recover. One of our comrades has been in touch with her brother and we will be there to help with anything they need,” Runeli said.
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