The murder of Sheldean Human’s killer has left the girl’s mother and his family with nothing but more heartache.
|||The murder of seven-year-old Sheldean Human’s killer, who was beaten and bludgeoned to death in his prison cell, has left the girl’s mother and his family with nothing but more heartache and unanswered questions.
“Now I will never know. Not even in death will I know why he murdered my baby,” said Sheldean’s mother, Elize Human, as she battled to control her emotions.
Sheldean’s badly decomposing body was found in a stormwater drain near the Fresh Produce Market 15 days after she vanished in February 2007. She disappeared while playing with a friend in a park near her Pretoria Gardens home.
Her killer, Andrew Jordaan, 30, whose family along with Sheldean’s have for years been searching for answers, was arrested after confessing to former police super sleuth Piet Byleveld.
Jordaan was sentenced to life imprisonment for Sheldean’s murder and the rape and indecent assault of his godchild. He appeared in court more than once with facial injuries.
While his family are furious over what they claim to be a wrongful conviction, Sheldean’s mother says she feels nothing.
Speaking on Monday hours after learning of Jordaan’s murder on Sunday at Leeuwkop Maximum Security Prison – and just days before marking the fifth anniversary of her daughter’s death – Human said she was dead inside.
“I am completely numb. I have felt nothing since the day he robbed me of my life. I feel sympathy for his family, because I know what it is like to lose a child, to know that you will never share another birthday or Christmas with your child, but for him I have no emotions,” she said.
Human said she had been living each day as it came. “I tried to protect Sheldean as best I could, but I just couldn’t.
“His death has now left me with nothing.Now I will never know why he did this to my baby, who I loved so much. Why he took my child away.
“There are so many questions that I have been wishing and praying that he would some day answer, but his silence has ensured that they will now never be answered.
“All his silence has left me with are my memories,” she said.
Jordaan maintained his silence right until the end, his brother, Anton Nortjé, said. “We have known all along that he did not do this.
“There were others involved who made sure my brother goes to jail and ultimately his death, but he never broke his silence. He never told anyone what really happened that day.
“What happened in court was a circus. The DNA and lie detector tests were negative, yet they still convicted my brother,” he said.
Nortjé, who last saw his brother the day he went to prison, said he knew in his heart that his brother didn’t kill Sheldean.
“We wanted to get to him to talk, to find out what really happened, but we couldn’t get to him because (we had no) transport.
“We know he did not do this. He couldn’t have done this. He often looked after my sons and our sister’s daughters. If he was going to try something he would have done it then, but he never did.
“He never once hurt a child. My brother was innocent and will always be innocent.
“Sheldean’s real killers are still out there. Now they will never be caught,” he said, adding that the family was in shock over Jordaan’s murder.
Ofentse Morwane, Gauteng correctional services spokesman, said Jordaan’s exact cause of death was unknown. “He sustained severe head trauma from an incident involving a cellmate.
“We are conducting an internal investigation and have moved the suspect, who was serving a 15-year prison sentence for murder and robbery, into isolation pending the outcome of the investigation,” he said.
Gauteng police spokeswoman Captain Pinky Tsinyane said a murder investigation was under way. “So far no arrests have been made. The motive for the killing is unknown.” - Pretoria News