kagablog

I write this with a heavy heart, but a sound mind. I am aware of what the media will turn this into, so I am writing this to you so that at least you will know the truth; so that at least you will understand that what I have done is the best thing I could have done for my family. You know how much I love Deborah, the children; you know they are my life. You know that I have always done what is best for them, and I want you to know that what I have done now is what I believe is best for them.

THE STAR; 16 March 2007
ANOTHER FATHER SLAYS INNOCENT FAMILY
YET ANOTHER BRUTAL FAMILY MURDER SHOCKS COMMUNITY
BY DAVID MKHIZE

MELVILLE, Johannesburg was the scene of yet another brutal family murder last night. Four family members murdered, in what appears to be yet another family slaying in a trend of fathers murdering their entire families and then committing suicide.

The police were alerted to the scene by a neighbour, Ms Karen Coetzee, who reported screams and sounds of a scuffle from inside her neighbour’s house. “At around 2 ‘o clock last night, I heard terrified screaming and loud bangs and crashes, and I knew something was wrong. Melville is notorious for its burglaries, so I immediately alerted the police. I just can’t believe that he murdered them. He was such a kind, friendly man, and it was obvious that he loved his family very much,” said a very distraught Ms Coetzee.

I want you to know that I have thought about this deeply, and for a long time. I have considered all the options, so many of them I can’t even keep track anymore, and nothing else seems to be a solution. Please know this. Know that I have searched my soul for any other way out besides this horror.

FORENSICS REPORT
Upon entry of the house, no visible signs of forced entry were noticeable. The entry hall and kitchen area seemed undisturbed, later verified by forensics. The downstairs family room was similarly undisturbed. Upon entry of the childrens’ bedroom, the bodies of Elizabeth Cook (10) and Elijah Cook (5) were found in their beds. Cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation. Post-mortem results confirmed this and fibre analysis determined the murder weapon to be the childrens’ own pillows.

With Stanley dead, the option of sending the kids to stay with relatives was no longer an option and the thought of my sensitive little Elizabeth, and tiny Elijah ending up in the South African foster-care system was just too much for me. I knew that they would end up in institutions where children raping other children was a common-day occurrence. I could not let that happen. I could not allow it up to chance that they might be adopted by a family genuinely wanting a child, rather than those families just providing foster-‘care’ for the government subsidy. I couldn’t bear to think of them ending up in homes where drugs or alcohol were part of their daily lives. I could not allow my little ones to be separated. Life is hard enough, and I could not stand the thought of my children having to grow up under unendurable circumstances, scarring them for life.

So I waited until Deborah and the children were asleep; I crept into their rooms and held the pillows over their little faces until I couldn’t find a pulse in their tiny little hands. God forgive me. In taking their lives I tried to spare them the suffering they would experience. I pray to God they didn’t wake up as they struggled to breathe. I pray to God that they didn’t for a moment wake up out of their sleep and feel the horror as their little lungs ran out of air. I pray to God they didn’t suffer.

THE STAR CONT.
The police have been very tight-lipped about the details of the murders. We have confirmation that Elizabeth Cook (13) and Eliza Cook (9) were found murdered in their beds. We managed to speak to one of the officers exiting the family home. The officer, who wishes to remain anonymous, told us through tears streaming down his face that “The monster had killed them in their beds. Their tiny bodies twisted and blue. Their fingers reaching out for help; frozen by rigor mortis in an endless scream for help. The monster! They
were so young. So helpless. Why?”
The officer was led away crying uncontrollably, mumbling hysterically about the brutality and the blood. He is currently being treated for shock at a nearby hospital and will undergo therapy.

FORENSICS REPORT CONT.
The upstairs area of the house was undisturbed, until entry into the master-bedroom, which exhibited signs of a struggle. Furniture and objects were disturbed and strewn across the floor. The struggle led from the master bedroom through the passage to the study, where a blood stain, later verified as that of Mrs Deborah Cook, was found on the carpet. A small spattering of blood was found close to the desk, confirmed as that of Mr Lance Cook’s. A bloodied letter-opener, bearing the blood of both victims, was found near the door leading to the family room. Large drops of blood on the floors and smears of blood on the walls, both Mr and Mrs Cook’s, led into the upstairs family room, where the body of Mrs Deborah Cook was found in a large pool of blood, her cranium crushed.

Deborah. My darling, Debbie. She’s suffered so much already. The anti-depressants weren’t helping and the doctor’s were recommending another stay at Tara. They said the death of Steph was just too much for her. That she couldn’t cope. What seemed to be post-natal depression after Elijah’s birth just never went away; just became worse and worse. But it was the fact that she couldn’t write anymore which really got to her. You know it was her only true joy, the only time she was really happy. Yes, she loved me, and she adored the children. But it was her writing she lived for.

My death would have been too much for her. She wouldn’t have been able to take care of the children by herself. She wouldn’t have been able to support herself financially. We were in enough debt as it was. And she would have had no one to turn to. You know what a loner she was.

I climbed the stairs from the kids’ room, sat next to her on the bed, watching her sleep, remembering all the good times, before she got sick, before Steph died. We used to be so happy. She used to be so happy. But now she couldn’t even get out of bed in the mornings without an anxiety attack. The doctors said that the likelihood of her trying to kill herself again was very high. She had to be hospitalised again. And she couldn’t face that. Not when everything had been taken from her. Now they wanted to take Elijah and Elizabeth from her again for two months, maybe more.

I leaned over her, kissed her on the forehead, placed the pillow over her face and held it down.

things happened very fast then too fast i was on the floor and hit my head against the bedside cabinet as I registered her kicks i saw her running down the passage as I got up i ran after her into the study i didn’t feel the pain when she hit me across the head with the lamp i only registered halfway to the family room door that she must have stabbed me in the thigh with the letter opener i didn’t want it to be like this i didn’t want her to suffer i didn’t want her to be scared but no choice i pulled the letter opener out of my leg cut her as she opened the door screaming & screaming unbearable didn’t want her to suffer promise you that God I hadn’t wanted her to suffer caught her in the middle of the room fell to the floor raised my hand to stab her with the letter opener wasn’t there can’t strangle her couldn’t strangle her couldn’t look into her eyes & see the confusion the pai got up took something from the mantelpiece crawling to get away smashed smashed smashed ‘til she stopped moving.

THE STAR CONT.
The murderer, Mr Lance Cook, described by neighbours as a pleasant, dedicated family man, worked as an IT consultant at a prominent Gauteng firm. Sources at the firm confirm that Mr Cook had recently been retrenched and was the only breadwinner of the Cook househould. Mrs Deborah Cook, an acclaimed fiction writer, suffered a nervous breakdown a year ago after the untimely deaths of her brother, Stanley and the still-birth of their third child. We have received confirmation from hospital staffs and friends of the family that Mrs Cook had been hospitalised several times at numerous hospitals in Gauteng, her last stay being at Tara four months prior to this tragedy.
The death of his son, the frail health of his wife and his financial concerns must have been too much for Mr Cook to bear, leading up to last night’s grisly events.

I know that you cannot forgive me for what I have done. But I hope that you will at least understand that what I did, I did with the best interests of my family at heart. My family and I have suffered enough.
May God forgive me

Your loving son
Lance

FORENSICS REPORT CONT.

Blood (confirmed to be Mr Cook’s) trailed from the body of Mrs Cook into the spare bedroom and the en-suite bathroom, where the body of Mr Cook was found, hanging from the shower curtain rail. Initial assessment of cause of death was thought to be massive blood loss, from a wound to the thigh which seemed to have severed the main artery, as there was a large pool of blood in the bath and on the bathroom floor, inconsistent with death by asphyxiation. This assessment was confirmed upon autopsy. A suicide letter written by Mr Cook was later found on the toilet cistern, written in the hand of Mr Cook (confirmed through handwriting analysis).

CONCLUSIONS:
Call to police by Mrs Karen Coetzee: 4h30am
Arrival of police on scene: 7h25am
Based on findings at the scene, a suicide letter written by Mr Cook and the the autopsies on all four bodies, Mr Cook entered the bedroom of his children and killed them. Cause of death: asphyxiation. Time of death: 3h05am (Elizabeth Cook); 3h09am (Elijah Cook). Mr Cook then went upstairs to the master bedroom where a scuffle ensued, leading to the study. In the study, Mrs Cook stabbed Mr Cook in the thigh with the letter opener found at the door of the study. Mr Cook stabbed Mrs Cook with same weapon in the upper arm as her back was turned towards him. The scuffle moved into the living room, where Mr Cook pinned Mrs Cook down. This is consistent with the large pool of blood found on the carpet of the living room, two metres from the position of the body. Mrs Cook crawled away from her assailant and was finally killed by repeated blows to the cranium by a blunt object. Cause of death: massive cranial haemorrhaging. Time of death: 3h23am. The weapon, a bronzed trophy, was found in the guest bedroom, on the bed. Mr Cook then moved into the guest bathroom, where he hung himself from the shower rail with the shower curtain. Cause of death: massive blood loss. Time of death: 6h48am.

The family are survived only by the parents of Mr Lance Cook, a Mr and Mrs Geoffrey Cook, aged 80 and 85 respectively, living at a nearby retirement village. At this time, the Cook’s have not made any comments to the press, but the head of the retirement village, Mr Kenneth O’ Bryan said in a statement to the press that the Cook’s were understandably shaken and upset by the untimely death of their only surviving children and grandchildren. Mr O’ Bryan also added that it was “shocking news” which “shook the very foundations of his belief in humanity” and that the entire village was in mourning. Mr O’ Bryan extended his heartfelt condolences to the Cook’s and added that because they could not afford the burials, “Happy Days Retirement Village would be more than happy to provide a memorial service for the family in the village’s beautiful gardens.”
While this might ease the minds of the Cook’s to some extent, the mind of society cannot help but be horrified by this apparent pandemic of family slayings. Both the ANC and the DP are outraged by the seeming moral decay in our society and the question as to what can be done about it rages from parliament through to the streets.

COULD YOUR HUSBAND TURN INTO A FAMILY SLAYER?: For more on family slayings and the psychological underpinnings of a family slayer, turn to page 4.