‘My two children are dead and nothing has been done,’ says Birchleigh mother (VIDEO)
'The person who killed my children is going to get away with this.'
“My two children are dead and nothing has been done.”
These words, uttered by heartbroken mother Monica van Loggerenberg (29), seem to hang in the air of her small Birchleigh home. Not a sound can be heard, only her crying.
Every day for her is a struggle, but this week especially so. Sunday marked one year since she lost two children in a fatal accident on Atlas Road.
Monica, her two children Jean-Pierre (8) and Mackayla (3) van Loggerenberg, her fiancé Juan van Niekerk (32) and their daughter Abigail (eight months) were 12km away from home when the family was hit from behind by another driver. Jean-Pierre and Mackayla died on the scene.
To commemorate their deaths, Monica visited their graves, which are still without tombstones. Monica was in an induced coma at the time of the funeral, and Juan wanted her to choose the stones. Now, the family cannot afford the about R12 500 needed.
To Monica, two tombstones for her children would mean the world. “Because I wasn’t at the funeral, it would be like my last gift to them.”
As if the thought is too much for her, she starts crying again. This time, her daughter Abigail (20 months), who was asleep in a room close-by, starts crying too. Monica’s eyes lit up as Juan brings her into the room. The little blue-eyed girl is all that keeps Monica sane.
“She is my motivation to get up every day.”
Although a year has passed, the family has still not been able to get closure about Mackayla and Jean-Pierre’s deaths. They know little to nothing about the case.
“The person who killed my children is going to get away with it,” Monica says. Her tears have stopped and her ice-blue eyes are only filled with determination.
“That doesn’t make sense to me. He gets to spend Christmas and Father’s Day with his family, and what do we get?”All Monica wants, she says, is for him to apologise and for the justice system to take its course.
“Maybe if he told me he was sorry, I would understand that he made a mistake. But I haven’t heard anything.”
Then, without blinking an eye, she adds: “I hope if he has children that they never have to find out their father killed two little children.”
Despite all that has happened to her, Monica remains a strong woman.
“In time, I will forgive him for what he has done because that is what my God would do.”
She believes that her two children would’ve done the same.
“They loved the Lord and would’ve forgiven him immediately. Juan-Pierre once wrote a letter that said, ‘Kan ons lev wees vir Got?’ (Can we love God?)”
For this very reason, this heartbroken mother has chosen to put these words on her children’s tombstones.
If there was a telephone line to heaven, Monica would say the following to Jean-Pierre and Mackayla on the anniversary of their death: “I love you and I miss you. And I’m sorry that I wasn’t awake to help you.”
According to Capt Jethro Mtshali, spokesperson for Kempton Park SAPS, this incident’s investigation has been completed and forwarded to the senior public prosecutor for a decision.
“We will not be further commenting on this matter as it is in the hands of the justice department,” Mtshali added.
Express was unable to get hold of Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court for comment before going to print.
