A Pretoria family say they are unhappy that the man suspected of killing his eight-month-old baby and her mother, was still at large after he escaped from police holding cells several months ago.

Mohammed Nassir (30), a Bangladeshi national investigated for the murder of Chantelle Ash and her baby Tasneem, is still on the run after escaping from custoy with three other prisoners on September 26, 2021.

Nassir escaped after he was arrested on January 21, 2021 and charged with the murders of his wife and baby.

Chantelle and baby Tasneem were strangled to death. Their bodies were found in a state of decomposing by the staff of a lodge on the R518 road between Mokopane and Marken near Masodi village in Polokwane on January 14, 2021. They were discovered two days after they booked a room with Nassir on January 12.

Speaking to Pretoria Rekord, Chantelle’s mother, Annie says the family is disappointed in the police.

“As a family, we feel that the police are not doing enough to find him,” she says.

“Look at the murder in Nelspruit of the daughter of EFF leader [former general-secretary Godrich Gardee]. Within a week they captured all the suspects.

“In our case, we feel the police have not done enough.”

Annie says her family was traumatised by the gruesome murder adding that “every time I hear his [Nassir’s] name I want to cry”.

Although there have been no findings published by the police on how the suspects escaped, Annie says she was informed by the police that the prisoners managed to break a cracked lock of the cell and escape through the station’s roof.

“I feel very unhappy. My heart is very sore and broken.”

Annie says the husband of her late daughter has not tried to contact her after he escaped. The last contact he made was on January 13, a day after the gruesome murder.

“I called him on January 13 [2021] to ask how they are because I struggled to get hold of my daughter for days. He told me that Chantelle and Tasneem were fine. Which was a lie because they were murdered the previous day [January 12].”

Annie says days before her grandchild and daughter’s bodies were found, the people who stayed with them told her the couple fought ‘and her phone was damaged in that fight. That is why I could not get hold of her’.

Since the murders, Annie says she was prescribed anti-depressants to cope, ‘I am still on medication just to calm me’.

Chantelle’s 20-year-old brother, Wayne, is also struggling to cope with the loss.

“He misses his sister a lot, some days he is okay and others he is struggling a lot. He is on a roller-coaster of emotions,” she says.

She appeals to the public to help in locating Nassir adding that ‘I believe he is still in the country’.

“If anyone sees him, we are pleading as a family to report his whereabouts to the police.”

Police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo confirmed that Nassir was still on the run; however, he could not furnish the newspaper with other responses on the findings of the investigations on how the suspects managed to escape.

The police indicated last year that there was an investigation to probe how the suspects escaped, but the findings are yet to be announced.

Anyone with information can contact Crime Stop number 08600 10111 or the nearest police station or the MySAPS App.