‘THEY WERE SO LOVED'

Family, friends and locals are reeling after the brutal murder of two popular restaurant owners in Polokwane

- JACQUES MYBURGH & CARLA COETZEE

THE air in the restaurant is usually enticing with the aromas of seafood but not today. Now, the Ocean Basket in the Mall of the North in Polokwane is heavy with the scent of flowers that have been laid at its entrance.

And instead of the usual jovial, relaxed atmosphere, the mood is sombre as staff try to come to terms with the fact that the bubbly owner, Lizette Deacon (55), will never walk through the door again. And neither will her mother, Hettie (70), who was a co-owner of the restaurant.

The women were found dead in the boot of Lizette’s white Honda hatchback one night earlier this month near Chuenespoort Dam about 25km from Polokwane. Both had several stab wounds and their hands had been tied with cable ties.

“It was hard to hear they’d been kidnapped and it was hard to hear they’re dead,” says Hettie’s daughter-in-law, Christa Deacon. “But the hardest thing for me is imagining their last few hours and the suffering they endured.”

Her husband, Quinton (58), is still too emotional to speak to the media in the wake of the murders of his mom and sister, and for his sake, Christa is trying to stay strong – but it’s hard in the face of two such senseless murders.

“I can’t understand why such lovely people had to go through that,” she says, her voice shaky. “They weren’t just my inlaws, they were like my own sister and mother.”

And seeing all the floral tributes at the restaurant’s entrance brings it home to her how other people felt about them.

“They were both very much loved,” Christa says, wiping away tears.

SHE can’t stop trying to piece together how things might have played out.