Teen left to die in ‘pool of blood’ uses final words to reveal killers | Africa News
A teenager who died after being shot in the head used her last words to identify her killers, it has been claimed.
Verushka Nel, 19, was at her flat in the South African city of Gqeberha, previously called Port Elizabeth, when she was attacked on August 17.
Verushka answered a knock on the door before two men barged in, opening fire more than once and returning to deliver a final kick to her stomach, local media reports. The intruders then stole her cell phone.
The young woman reportedly lay helplessly in her own blood for around 12 hours before a neighbour found her and she was rushed to hospital.
When her mum Jackie came to her side, Verushka is said to have named the men who attacked her.
Jackie told News24: ‘She couldn’t wait for me to get to her and she told me exactly who did this. She knew them. They did not care about her life at all.’
Verushka spent five days in hospital before she slipped into a coma and died on August 22.
During those days, she reportedly identified her killers to her family and investigators multiple times.
‘When she fell asleep she would scream and wake up calling their names,’ the devastated mum told IOL.
Jackie added: ‘I was completely hysterical – everyone loved her. Who would have wanted to hurt her like this?’
Police spokesperson colonel Priscilla Naidu said a murder investigation had been opened by the Provincial Organised Crime Investigation department, which may imply the attack could be linked to gang crime.
Gqeberha locals are devastated at what many see as yet another example of the country’s widespread problems with violence against women.
The nation has long been one of the most dangerous countries for women and was dubbed the world’s worst country for female solo travellers by the Women’s Danger Index in 2019.
South African women are killed by their intimate partners at a rate five times higher than the global average, according to research published in the South African Family Practice scientific journal in March.
Local anti-gender-based violence organisation Women for Change posted about Verushka, saying: ‘Fly high, Sister.’
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