She loved, cared, felt pain but never spoke about it.

All he wanted was for her to listen, to obey his wishes. He wanted to be happy, despite the feelings of his wife. He believed that it was love, she did too. He would lay his hands on her just to make her to listen, he didn’t care about the pains he was causing his wife. She felt emotional and physical stress caused by someone who was supposed to protect her. She lived with hopes that it would get better in time. But the only thing that happened was time made it more difficult for her to move out of the painful relationship.

He would beat her and apologise in the morning. Sometimes he would put the blame on alcohol, but what about those days when he was sober? It was understandable because it was all the work of the devil. A willing heart can forgive and forget, that’s what defined her. Was she was a willing victim? What was the right thing for her to do?

She never knew what the difference between love and abuse was. She was trying to turn a house into home. She lost her friends and family, trying to save her abusive marriage. He was never an honest man to begging with. He was always home late, that’s why his wife was always beaten, for asking why he came back late. He had lots of girls to entertain before going home. His wife knew about his dealings but when she tried to talk about it she ended up on a hospital bed.

His wife was pregnant and he never paid attention. It was when she was on the 5th month that he changed, or so she thought. He stopped beating her, started to care for her. He gave her time and praised her. Maybe he was after something. There were less beatings in the house, that was an improvement. She was not that comfortable but she believed in him because he had stopped taking alcohol. He was all ready to start a family. He started to save money for the baby. All that was in his mind was that he was going to be blessed with a baby boy.

A few months later his wife gave birth to a little girl and named her Thandi. Babies bring joy in some households. But that’s when he, the father of Thandi, started to tell his family that he was not the biological father to Thandi. He started to accuse his wife of cheating.

Thandi’s mother was always scared of her husband. She knew that he might beat her. He was misbehaving at all times. He was no longer the man she fell in-love with. He would bring girls to the house in his wife’s presence. He started to skip work as he was obsessed with having a baby boy.

A few months later he lost his job. He did not have it in him to tell his wife, he thought she would leave him. His side girls noticed that he couldn’t provide like he used to. They all left him, but not his wife. She was a strong woman; she survived abuse and hunger in the name of love. She wanted to see her daughter growing in a family with two parents. She forgot about love. Love can mislead us sometimes.

He was so desperate to get a job but he had a bad record. One dark day he came across a gun on the streets. He wasn’t sure if it was a real gun or toy gun but he took it. While he was holding it he felt that it was a real weapon. He sat across the street to think. He thought killing her was the solution. He wanted to use the gun on her and his baby. He arrived home, looked at his wife and child like they were monsters. He didn’t have the guts to pull out the gun. He went straight to sleep.

Her life was getting more difficult as she got no emotional and economical support. She thought to provide for her family she should got into prostitution. While she was at it, she had no one to babysit her daughter.

He used the gun for the first time to steal money from some rich guy. Both Thandi’s parents were now new people. She was a prostitute and he was a criminal. He hid the money from her, while she bought food for everyone. She started to make more money to pay a nanny. He never cared to ask where his wife worked. All he wanted to do was to save money to charm young girls.

He got tired of stealing from spaza shops and random people. He targeted car owners, he wanted to have his own car. He met a guy who was just released from jail for hijacking and made a deal to start hijacking together. They would steal two cars per month. He would spend most of his time at home, forcing the nanny to sleep with him at gun point. The nanny was scared to tell her. He made it clear that he would kill her if she told anyone. He would even give her extra money in the absence of his wife.

One day he thought that the nanny was no longer good enough alone, he decided to rape his one-year-old child.

Unfortunately she decided to come home early that day. She was shocked by what she saw. And that was her last memory on earth. He gunned her and the nanny down at that moment. The baby had passed out already, so he thought she was dead. He fled the scene without anyone trying to stop him. Thandi was taken to hospital by the officials. She had died for what she believed was love but it wasn’t real love. Yes, she loved him but he never loved her in return.

***

Tell us: Do you know of cases like this in your neighbourhood?