Mourners at the funeral of Hillary Gardee. Photo: EFF
Hillary Gardee funeral: Godrich Gardee makes heartbreaking comments
Godrich Gardee has delivered heartbreaking comments at Hillary Gardee’s funeral. “Little did we know you would die a death characterised by boot prints on your chest. Stab wounds on your breast and back.”
Mourners at the funeral of Hillary Gardee. Photo: EFF
The murder of 28-year-old Hillary Gardee has sent shockwaves through South Africa this week. Gardee is the daughter of former EFF Secretary General Godrich Gardee. Her funeral took place on Saturday. And as expected, the comments made by Godrich have left South Africans even more heartbroken.
Hillary Gardee and Godrich Gardee: A father says goodbye
In a seven-minute recorded video message that played out during the funeral, Godrich Gardee recounted all the horrific injuries the family noted on his daughter’s body.
“Litle did we know you would die a tragic death. A death characterised by boot prints on your chest. A blunt object striking your head. Stab wounds on your breast and back. A gunshot on the back of your head. And a bleeding nose. It never occurred to me and the family that we would have to identify you in a bush lying face down. With your hand clutching tightly on shrubs and grass fighting for your life. “
Godrich Gardee
One arrested and three persons of interest in murder case
While the funeral was ongoing on Saturday, Police Minister Bheki Cele revealed that three more persons of interest have been identified by police. That follows Mpumalanga police commissioner, Lt-Gen Semakaleng Daphney Manamela, telling the media on Friday evening that police did make one arrest.
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“Up to so far, we managed to arrest a man at Schoemansdal in Nkomazi within the 72-hours that we were given. We believe that we have the right suspect and we are looking forward to making more arrests as the investigation continues”.
The man faces a murder charge and is set to make his first court appearance on Monday the 9th of May.
The body of Hillary Gardee was found four days after she was first reported missing in Mbombela. At the time she went missing, she was with her adopted 3-year-old daughter. According to Godrich Gardee, the child’s description of what happened and how her mother fought back, showed that she was a “fighter they never knew”.
