‘I Always Wanted To Be A Mom'

Her estranged husband shot her son dead before killing himself – now Nandia wants to warn other divorcing parents.

- Marelize Grbich

IT WAS his best friend’s birthday and there were treats galore and even a little lamb to pet and play with.

Seven-year-old Dylan Neethling was in his element as he joined in the festivities in the shadow of Paarl Mountain.

No one could have predicted that magical spring morning in the Salem Biblical Garden near Paarl in the Western Cape would mark the start of the little boy’s final day.

In the early hours of the following morning he was shot dead in his bedroom. And the person who took his life was the man he saw as his protector – his father, Johann Neethling (69).

After pulling the trigger Johann called the police to report a shooting before lying down on the bed beside his son’s body and shooting himself.

His estranged wife, Nandia (38), wipes away tears with the back of her hand – she’s barely stopped crying since receiving the terrible news that her only child would never be coming back to her.

Then she manages a brave smile.

“You can’t just cry constantly,” says Nandia, who’s talking to us in her brother Rudi Visser’s flat in Bellville, Cape Town.

Although the pain of her loss is still so raw, she’s agreed to speak to YOU in the hope that some good can come from this senseless tragedy.

“If I can help only one person, it’ll be enough. I want to warn parents who are in the midst of a divorce: make sure there are no weapons in the house.”

It’s the day after Dylan’s funeral. His friends at Panorama Primary School showed up dressed as superheroes, while mourners said farewell outside the church clutching brightly coloured balloons.

“There was a candle in church with a picture of his face on it,” she says.

“Those eyes . . . It felt as if he was looking at me the whole time.”