For the first time it has been revealed that murdered Mitchells Plain mom Gafsa Roberts has been strangled to death.
Gafsa’s son Shakoor Roberts was arrested for her murder three years ago and appeared at the Mitchells Plain Regional Court on Monday where he is on trial.
ON TRIAL: Shakoor Roberts has appeared at court. Photo: Supplied
However, proceedings were halted due to a spelling mistake in the post-mortem report made by the doctor.
It was revealed the word ‘throttled’ missed the ‘* ’.
The doctor, who is currently in Durban, has been called to Cape Town to correct the error and amend his report.
This is the first time the court and Gafsa’s relatives heard how she had died.
The 61-year-old mother’s decomposed body was found hidden in a wheelie bin outside her home in Winterhoek Street, Tafelsig by neighbours in March 2015.
Gafsa was identified by her hair.
Her daughter, Rushana Adams, and some neighbours are State witnesses in the case and were told to return to court on 10 October when the matter will resume.
Rushana said the family was shocked to hear how brutally her mother had died.
“I am feeling so sick, how can a child do that to his own mother?” she said.
Roberts lived alone with his sickly mother who suffered from liver disease, pancreatic cancer and was a diabetic.
He was arrested and charged the same day as her body was found, but the charges were provisionally withdrawn two days later due to a lack of evidence.