Siam's mom "shoots daggers" at her daughter's alleged murderer

Carmen Lee shot a withering look at Philani Gift Ntuli when she came within reaching distance of the man accused of abducting and killing her daughter Siam.

Ntuli‚ 29‚ appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday‚ almost three weeks after he was arrested.

After addressing the court‚ Ntuli walked down the steps to the holding cells beneath the court room‚ casually waving to people in the gallery.

In the front row Lee’s mother Carmen sat and seethed.

The businessman faces of a raft of charges‚ including murder‚ kidnapping and fraud.

He was arrested by private investigator Brad Nathanson‚ who was commissioned to investigate Lee's disappearance by paternal family living in Australia.

Lee‚ who worked as an escort to support her mother‚ was last seen on January 4 outside a Durban North house that operates as a brothel.

The search for her spanned KwaZulu-Natal when the charred remains of a woman were found in a sugarcane field in New Hanover.

The body was later identified as the 20-year-old by her relatives‚ although DNA tests to unequivocally identify her have not yet been completed by police.

The police have reassigned the investigation to the Durban Organised Crime Unit‚ necessitating another seven-day remand.

Ntuli addressed the court and gave detailed allegations of torture during his arrest and while he was in police cells.

He said that the investigation had stalled since his first appearance. “When we adjourned last time I was told there would be ID parades and nothing has happened. All that I have been subjected to is torture.”

The Sunday Times reported that Siam Lee had reached out to an organisation that assists sex workers‚ pleading for their help in the weeks before her murder.

She detailed her despair of having to lead a double life while moving from one brothel to another‚ all the while maintaining a façade for her family and friends.

She described the circumstances that had led her from the corridors of Crawford College to the dimly lit rooms of a massage parlour‚ and said her service of giving "sensual massages" had helped keep a roof over her head and supported her mother when she was not able to work as an escort.

Ntuli is expected to appear in court next Friday.