Six months after an 18-year-old girl was shot in the head, her boyfriend has been sentenced to an effective 12 years behind bars for her murder.
The mother of Mushfeeqah Hanslow has applauded the investigating officer, Detective Ashley Flink, for his impressive work in arresting three suspects and finding her daughter’s killer.
Ruwayda Adams says her daughter was killed after accidentally overhearing a murder plot.
SHE KNEW TOO MUCH: Slain Mushfeeqah Hanslow, 18. Photo: Supplied
“She knew too much,” the mom said.
Mushfeeqah’s boyfriend, Tashreeq Caswell, 20, Ethan Reddy and a third man were arrested following her murder on 27 February in Hanover Park.
On Monday, 10 September, Reddy was acquitted and set free at the Wynberg Regional Court due to a lack of evidence.
Caswell was sentenced to 15 years behind bars, three of which are suspended, after entering into a plea bargain with the State.
The third suspect turned State witness and cannot be identified.
The State proved while Mushfeeqah visited her berk’s home in Hanover Park Avenue, she overheard an argument between Caswell and the two other men who were planning to shoot someone.
Tashreeq shot Mushfeeqah in the head in the lounge.
PLEA: Mom hopes killer changes his life.
One of the other men placed a plastic bag over her head, tied her hands and feet with rope and cleaned up the blood.
Caswell later handed himself over to police, while Reddy was arrested in Manenberg after being on the run.
The suspects first claimed they were playing with the gun and that it went off accidentally, but one of the men then turned State witness.
Ruwayda says she always disapproved of her daughter’s relationship with
Caswell. The families live in the same street.
She says she tried calling her daughter on that fateful day, not realising she’d already been murdered.
“I never approved of the relationship,” the mom says.
“I am still very traumatised and having visions of her. I feel that the law could have done much better because people who helped to clean up the crime scene were not punished.
“But everything happens through the grace of God even if, at the end of the day, it is not what we want. The detective did an awesome and accurate job. I salute him.”
She says she hopes Caswell will use his 12 years behind bars to change his life.
“I hope he will improve himself to become a better person,” says Ruwayda.