“My daughter was a bubbly girl. Everybody knew her smile, her bubbliness. Even at the church and in the family, she never had a fight.”
This is how Palesa Matlamela’s mother, Eunice Matlamela, from Alexandra, described her daughter.
Matlamela, 28, was allegedly brutally assaulted by her boyfriend on Sunday evening. The boyfriend allegedly dropped her at Edenvale Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.
On Tuesday Gauteng police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Sello said a suspect was behind bars in connection with Matlamela’s death.
Eunice told TimesLIVE her daughter was so scared of her boyfriend that she would not open a case with the police.
According to Matlamela’s family, she had been in a relationship with him for about five years but returned home a few weeks ago.
“He had [allegedly] been very abusive. She came back home crying,” said Eunice. She said since her daughter had returned home with her belongings, the boyfriend would pick her up at weekends and they would go out together.
“He would come with his car and pick her up. I cancelled him from my house. He would always call her and wanted her to only be with him. He would always try to find out about her whereabouts,” she said, adding that she had recently asked her daughter why she kept going back to him.
This past weekend was the last time her family had seen her alive, said Eunice.
Slain ‘bubbly’ daughter had returned home from ‘abusive’ relationship: mother
Image: Supplied
“My daughter was a bubbly girl. Everybody knew her smile, her bubbliness. Even at the church and in the family, she never had a fight.”
This is how Palesa Matlamela’s mother, Eunice Matlamela, from Alexandra, described her daughter.
Matlamela, 28, was allegedly brutally assaulted by her boyfriend on Sunday evening. The boyfriend allegedly dropped her at Edenvale Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.
On Tuesday Gauteng police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Sello said a suspect was behind bars in connection with Matlamela’s death.
Eunice told TimesLIVE her daughter was so scared of her boyfriend that she would not open a case with the police.
According to Matlamela’s family, she had been in a relationship with him for about five years but returned home a few weeks ago.
“He had [allegedly] been very abusive. She came back home crying,” said Eunice. She said since her daughter had returned home with her belongings, the boyfriend would pick her up at weekends and they would go out together.
“He would come with his car and pick her up. I cancelled him from my house. He would always call her and wanted her to only be with him. He would always try to find out about her whereabouts,” she said, adding that she had recently asked her daughter why she kept going back to him.
This past weekend was the last time her family had seen her alive, said Eunice.
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Palesa’s aunt, Mmaphuti Maboya, said the hospital called her sister on Monday morning to inform her about her daughter’s passing.
“The doctor confirmed she died on arrival,” she said.
Maboya described her niece as someone who loved going out and always looked beautiful.
“She was a bubbly person, always smiling.”
Matlamela’s family and friends posted on social media on Monday to call for public assistance against her alleged attacker under the hashtag #JusticeForPalesa.
Sello said a murder case was opened on Monday at the Sandringham police station.
“He [the suspect] handed himself over to the police and will be charged with murder,” Sello said.
TimesLIVE
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