The devastated family of Sasha-Lee Monique Shah are calling on the justice system to stop dragging their feet when it comes to gender-based violence (GBV) and support victims by swiftly arresting the perpetrators to prevent the senseless killings of women by abusive partners.
This comes after the murder of the 25-year-old accounting and finance graduate, from uMhlanga, who was allegedly shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend at the Gateway Shopping Mall on Sunday, 30 October 2022. The accused, Kyle Inderlall is alleged to have fatally shot Shah before turning the gun on himself. Mother of the deceased, Jessica Shah who spoke to Tabloid Newspapers about the chilling details leading to her daughter’s death said her family has been failed by the justice system as several cases, and protection orders were filed with law enforcement, with no sense of urgency on the part of the police. She said her daughter’s life could have been saved had the justice system and the relevant authorities acted sooner.
“My daughter applied for a protection order stating the seriousness of the threats, stalking and Kyle’s possession of a firearm which she had been experiencing for a long time. Kyle’s firearm should have been removed from his possession immediately after my daughter reported the incidents. We have been failed by the justice system and the police for not removing a firearm that belonged to an abusive man who was also receiving psychological intervention,” said Shah. She said Shasha-Lee had desperately reached out for help, not only from the police but also from Kyle’s family. “The family was aware that he was receiving psychological intervention and what he was doing to my daughter. She moved to Westville to live with her uncle and aunt for her own safety and to escape the abuse she endured daily. She was afraid to be killed by this man and told his family about her fears of what he may do to her,” said Shah.
A protection that was filed by Sasha-Lee at the Westville Police Station on 22 September 2022, against her abuser read: “My ex-boyfriend has refused to break up with me, he sometimes physically abused me when I was with him. He has emotionally abused me for a very long time. When I told him that it was over, he threatened to kill himself with his firearm and says it will be my fault. His recent physical abuse was when he slapped me hard on my face and I couldn’t hear properly for three weeks. When I blocked him off everything, he could still contact me from an unknown number and called almost a hundred times a day. He then gets new numbers to message me from, he stalks me and sometimes waits outside work to follow me back home so that he can take my phone and force me to come with him to get it back.”
The protection order further read: “He parks outside our house refusing to leave to see if I’m going anywhere and with who. He kidnaps me when he does see me and keeps my phone with him till he feels he’s okay with giving it back. I am very scared of his threats and behaviour, he’s always threatening me when I do not say yes to him. He has various threats every day. I cannot live a normal life with continuous stalking and threats from this man. I do not know what he’s capable of as he has a firearm. My family and I feel very unsafe. I insist on an interim order so that I may be protected as soon as possible as he is very unpredictable and I don’t know who he will hurt if he doesn’t see me.” Shah said she will remember her daughter as an exemplary woman. “She should be an example to other women. Even with all of this abuse, she persevered and didn’t settle for less. She knew where to draw the line and stood up for herself against this man. She just didn’t want anyone else to get hurt and was afraid to be killed,” added Shah.
