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Although five teenagers have been arrested in connection with the death of her mother, Magda van Vuuren, this has been of little consolation to Lizelle (25) and her sister Lezahn (30).
Nothing will bring their mother back, Lizelle says.
Five schoolchildren from the Westview Special School in Newton Park, Port Elizabeth, have been arrested for the hijacking and murder of Magda (53). They’re aged between 15 and 16.
On Monday afternoon Magda took groceries to her mother, Sally Potgieter (83) in Diaz Road. Just before 3 pm she said goodbye and got into her gold BMW. Just then one of the suspects, in his school uniform, approached her car.
According to witnesses the five learners had spent the afternoon sitting in a nearby piece of veld.
The suspect allegedly pulled Magda out of her car and shot her in the back. He then got into the car and raced off.
The four other learners, in their school uniforms, ran off in different directions.
Sally was standing at her front door and saw it all. She saw her only daughter lying on her stomach in the road in a pool of blood.
Sally’s carer, who doesn’t want her name mentioned, ran to Magda, then called the police.
Magda and her husband, Pieter. PHOTO: Supplied
Magda was taken to the Livingstone Hospital, where she was later declared dead.
The first two suspects, a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl, were arrested that night at a filling station in Blue Water Bay. They were in possession of Magda’s car.
“Were battling to come to terms with her death,” Lizelle says. “My father says he doesn’t know how he’ll be able to live without her.”
Pieter and Magda had been married for 33 years.
“I remember our last talk. We talked about everyday things. She was the most incredible person I knew and it will be difficult to go on without her.”
The suspects will soon appear in the Juvenile Court on charges of hijacking, murder, the illegal possession of a firearm and the theft of the car.
