Solidarity for slain Sanna

AS the family of the late Sanna //Garoes yesterday continued to mourn the recent loss of their daughter at the hands of her killer, a hand was reached out to them not only in the form of their surrounding community, but also by the families of two women who over the past two years have had to deal with the same sorrow.

A group of around 20 women, including aunts of the late Juanita Mabula and Melanie Janse, both murdered over the course of 2005, gathered at the 36-year old //Garoes’ family home in Kalkrand to support her family in coming to terms with her death. “What happened to their family today can happen to any of ours tomorrow.They could not have expected this, but it happened.And whoever is responsible is still out there,” remarked community activist Rosa Namises at the start of the gathering yesterday afternoon.Namises leads the group Womens’ Solidarity, a community organisation against violence and abuse against women.Group members from Windhoek, Rehoboth and Tsumispark decided to join //Garoes’ family in prayer.They were also joined by villagers from Kalkrand, a place still visibly shaken by last week’s police confirmation that the body which was cut up and discarded at various points outside of Windhoek during the past two months belonged to the woman they all knew as “Basters”.She had last been seen at around 23h00 on Wednesday, June 13, police earlier reported, outside the Zum Wirt restaurant on Independence Avenue in the city centre.Three and a half days later, a human torso, dissected into two parts, was found in a rubbish bin at a lay-by next to the B1 road approximately 42 kilometres north of Windhoek.//Garoes’ nephew Hermanus Hansen, who grew up with her in the Kalkrand house, said following this discovery the family had already gone to Windhoek to identify the body parts, as she was missing.A second discovery was made three days later, when two human thighs were found in another rubbish bin at a lay-by next to the B1, this time south of Windhoek and 25 km north of Rehoboth.”Already then we said this was her, because we recognised an old bullet scar on one thigh,” he told The Namibian during the morning.Last Wednesday, a third discovery was made on the B6/ Trans-Kalahari road some 35 km east of Windhoek on route to the Hosea Kutako airport.This consisted of //Garoes’ head, two lower legs and feet, both missing its three middle toes.The family said yesterday that they will wait for the discovery of //Garoes’ arms before burying her.”All we want to ask the murderer is, please, like you did before, just leave them somewhere where someone will find them,” Hansen, speaking on behalf of the family, said during the morning.”We know this bitter tiding.We’ve swallowed this bitter pill, and when we came to read about what happened to your daughter, our wounds were at once opened up again,” said Joey Swartz later during the memorial service.When The Namibian last spoke to Swartz in October 2005 at a memorial service for her niece, 21-year old Juanita Mabula, she said that the family had made peace with the young woman’s death.Like //Garoes, Mabula’s body was discovered on the B1 road on the outskirts of Windhoek in September 2005.She was found naked and headless.Her family eventually decided to bury her decapitated body, and when her head was discovered four weeks later on the same road, it had to be buried in a separate casket.”There is something out there waiting for victims to hunt.And all we can do is pray and help the police”, Swartz said yesterday.”What happened to their family today can happen to any of ours tomorrow.They could not have expected this, but it happened.And whoever is responsible is still out there,” remarked community activist Rosa Namises at the start of the gathering yesterday afternoon.Namises leads the group Womens’ Solidarity, a community organisation against violence and abuse against women.Group members from Windhoek, Rehoboth and Tsumispark decided to join //Garoes’ family in prayer.They were also joined by villagers from Kalkrand, a place still visibly shaken by last week’s police confirmation that the body which was cut up and discarded at various points outside of Windhoek during the past two months belonged to the woman they all knew as “Basters”.She had last been seen at around 23h00 on Wednesday, June 13, police earlier reported, outside the Zum Wirt restaurant on Independence Avenue in the city centre.Three and a half days later, a human torso, dissected into two parts, was found in a rubbish bin at a lay-by next to the B1 road approximately 42 kilometres north of Windhoek.//Garoes’ nephew Hermanus Hansen, who grew up with her in the Kalkrand house, said following this discovery the family had already gone to Windhoek to identify the body parts, as she was missing. A second discovery was made three days later, when two human thighs were found in another rubbish bin at a lay-by next to the B1, this time south of Windhoek and 25 km north of Rehoboth.”Already then we said this was her, because we recognised an old bullet scar on one thigh,” he told The Namibian during the morning.Last Wednesday, a third discovery was made on the B6/ Trans-Kalahari road some 35 km east of Windhoek on route to the Hosea Kutako airport.This consisted of //Garoes’ head, two lower legs and feet, both missing its three middle toes.The family said yesterday that they will wait for the discovery of //Garoes’ arms before burying her.”All we want to ask the murderer is, please, like you did before, just leave them somewhere where someone will find them,” Hansen, speaking on behalf of the family, said during the morning.”We know this bitter tiding.We’ve swallowed this bitter pill, and when we came to read about what happened to your daughter, our wounds were at once opened up again,” said Joey Swartz later during the memorial service.When The Namibian last spoke to Swartz in October 2005 at a memorial service for her niece, 21-year old Juanita Mabula, she said that the family had made peace with the young woman’s death.Like //Garoes, Mabula’s body was discovered on the B1 road on the outskirts of Windhoek in September 2005.She was found naked and headless.Her family eventually decided to bury her decapitated body, and when her head was discovered four weeks later on the same road, it had to be buried in a separate casket.”There is something out there waiting for victims to hunt.And all we can do is pray and help the police”, Swartz said yesterday.