“He did not mean to kill her, I forgive him.”
These were the heart-wrenching words of a Mitchells Plain mother whose teen daughter, and her only child, died in her arms after allegedly being shot accidentally by her best friend.
The heartbroken family of Monique Fourie, 19, say they are still in shock after finding the soft-spoken cleaner with a gunshot wound to her face in the yard of her home in Waterval Street.
Monique was shot in her home in Tafelsig on Saturday morning while her best friend, who has since gone on the run, was allegedly playing with a gun and accidentally fired a shot and the bullet went through his hand and struck her in the left cheek.
Mom, Carmelita, 43, said the teen lived with her boyfriend and she was asleep at home in Beacon Valley when relatives came to tell her the news.
“They told me she was shot and, when I got there, I just saw the blood,” says Carmelita.
Grieving mom, Carmelita Fourie says she forgives her daughter's best friend who allegedly killed her while playing with a gun. Picture: Leon Knipe
“She was still alive and the police told us we are going to wait long for the ambulance, so one of the neighbours took us to hospital.
“I held her head in the car and her aunty held her legs and we went to Mitchells Plain Day Hospital, but they told us because of the fire, we must go to the District Hospital.”
Monique was rushed to the trauma section and her mother was later called into a room where doctors informed her that her daughter had died.
“They told me she was dead on arrival and there was nothing they could do,” says a hartseer Carmelita.
“I can’t believe she is gone. I just wanted to wipe her face and take her home. She is my only child, she is everything to me.”
Police spokesperson, Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana, confirms the incident and says circumstances around the incident are being investigated, with no arrests made yet.
Mitchells Plain District Hospital doctors could not save her. File image
Carmelita says she received a call from the friend who pulled the trigger and says he is “devastated”.
“He told me he ran away because he could not believe it,” the mom says.
“He is from Hanover Park and is too scared to come here.
“He was her boeta and they were like brothers because she was a tomboy.
“He was busy with the gun and then it went off. He said he will hand himself over after the funeral. He did not mean to kill her, I forgive him.”