More than a year after 89-year-old Ellen Malan was brutally murdered in her Tafelsig home, her family is still waiting for answers as forensic delays have brought the investigation to a virtual standstill.
Advocacy group Action Society has now escalated the case by submitting formal complaints to the South African National Forensic Oversight and Ethics Board and Mitchell’s Plain police leadership, demanding urgent intervention in what they describe as a “collapse” of the forensic system.
Ellen Malan was found murdered in her bedroom on 28 September last year. Her son-in-law found her body when he arrived to deliver her daily meal. She had been tied up, her mouth had been muzzled and she had been strangled.
Malan’s eldest daughter, Angie Abrahams, said that initially there was an outpouring of support and the house had been filled with high-ranking police brass who promised that no stone would be left unturned.
The ward councillor and mayor also paid the family a visit and three young people in the community were taken in for questioning — and then there was silence.
Abrahams said the police took an unusually long time to process fingerprints and DNA samples.
“And then they said there was supposed to be a retake. I don’t know what that means, but nobody, none of the people’s stuff, was retaken,” Abrahams said.
The family followed up again two months ago and were told that a new detective had been appointed to the case and would be in touch with them, but to date they have had no further follow-up from the police.
Abrahams said that even Action Society representatives have been unable to contact the new detective and were told he is either off sick or on leave whenever they visited the police station.
Mysterious murder
The mysteries surrounding the murder itself also continues to haunt the family. Abrahams said that nothing was stolen from the house. Her eldest son’s DJ equipment was stored there but was left completely untouched. The only things that appear to have been taken was her mother’s cigarettes and a packet of chips, both of which had been brought with her evening meal the night before.
Abrahams said that the next door neighbours also told the family that they heard a “commotion” the night before. They claim to have heard banging and the family suspects that this was when the murderers removed the door frame to gain entry in the wee hours of the night.
However, the neighbours say they were never interviewed by police.
Intervention
Kaylynn Palm of Action Society’s centre in the Western Cape said the organisation has submitted formal complaints demanding answers about the forensic delays.
“These endless delays are an insult to Ellen’s memory and a second trauma to her family,” Palm said in a statement on their website. “When fingerprint results sit unprocessed for over a year and DNA samples are mishandled or retaken without explanation, it is no longer a backlog, it is a collapse.”
The complaints specifically question why fingerprint results submitted to the Plattekloof laboratory remain outstanding and why DNA retakes were requested without explanation. Action Society is asking the DNA Board to investigate compliance with the DNA Act and recommend measures to prevent such delays.
Captain FC van Wyk from the police’s provincial media centre confirmed that investigations continue but no arrests have been made but appealed to witnesses to come forward.
Mitchell’s Plain police station commander Brig Brian Muller said that the new detective on the case contacted the family in August. He was on leave during September and only returned to work recently.
He added that the station had only also recently received the DNA results from the lab.
Never alone
Abrahams said her mother was never alone except at night. When Abrahams had offered to move in, the fiercely independent Malan had refused.
“She always said, what’s the use of me coming to live with her? She said that if something happened to her, then something would happen to me too,” Abrahams said.
She added that during the day her son Graham, who lived across the road from his granny, would visit intermittently.
“If he opened his door, he could see right into Mama’s house. And then we were just around the corner from her. So it’s not like she was alone. She was never alone. We went to her late at night to see that everything was okay. We were there early in the morning, before we went to work. She only slept alone,” Abrahams said.
Broader DNA crisis
Action Society notes that Malan’s case represents one of tens of thousands trapped in South Africa’s DNA backlog. The organisation maintains that urgent public-private partnerships with private forensic laboratories and universities could resolve the crisis.
The timing is particularly painful for the family, with the first anniversary of Ellen’s death coinciding with what would have been her milestone 90th birthday celebration.
Abrahams also shares a birthday with her mother on 15 October.
“We gave all the information that we have to the police, and nothing came of it, absolutely nothing,” Abrahams said. “We don’t know anything that is happening. We don’t get feedback from them.”
Malan is survived by her five daughters, eight grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
You must be logged in to post a comment.