A Wesbank teenager has been shot and killed because he refused to join a gang.
His aunt June Evonne Ethinstilani, 46, says Valentino Abrahams, 18, had told her that for the past three years, the people he grew up with have been trying to force him into a life of crime.
And on Sunday he told her that he was going to die soon.
“He actually told me that he wanted to die because of the threats he was receiving from the gangsters. I didn’t think this would end like this,” the hartseer aunt says.
The distraught woman says around 5pm on Sunday, Valentino’s friend came to her house to give her the bad news.
“The friend said that he had been lying on Kasba Street and he was shot.
‘When I got to the scene, I couldn’t even see clearly, I was just in disbelief.
“The bullets hit him in the cheek and also in the head. He died on the spot,” she says.
June says Valentino’s death has torn the family apart: “He was orphaned, his mom died last year in March and now he has been killed. Our family is at a standstill, we don’t even know what to do.”
The aunt says that when Valentino went to the shop, he had no idea that he would be ambushed.
“Witnesses say that the suspect called him around the corner from the shop and Tino went down to him and he said something to him, they didn’t hear but they saw him shooting my nephew.”
June tells the Daily Voice that Valentino was definitely not a gangster.
“He was not a gangster, he worked. The people he knew who joined the gangs had been trying to get him on their side since he was 15 years old but he never wanted to.
“His dream was to be a welder and he was determined to make it and never got the chance.
“He was a boy who loved birds, a joker who made all of us laugh, he was fun-loving.
“We are all going to miss him. I hope that there will be justice for his murder,” she says, crying.
Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi says the suspects have not yet been arrested.
“The victim, an 18-year-old, was declared deceased on the scene by the medical personnel,” he says.
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stop on 08600 10111.”