The mother of the second female victim, who died after she was doused with petrol and set alight allegedly by Mark Harvey, wants him to rot in jail.
This follows an attack on Marishka Davids and her friend Zakkihya Rayman at an apartment in Florida, west of Johannesburg, on February 11.
Rayman passed away on February 19 from her wounds, and in accordance with Muslim custom, she was buried that day just before dusk.
Marishka died after spending 16 days in the ICU at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. She celebrated her 31st birthday on Saturday while still in the ICU.
Marishka died at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto on Tuesday evening, where she had been transferred.
A roller coaster week
Mandy Davids, Marishka’s distraught mother, told Sunday World that, as recently as last week, her daughter appeared to be getting better, leading her to believe that she was headed towards recovery.
“She went in to scrape the burnt skin off her back after doing her arms and legs. They did a scope,” said Mandy.
“She was doing better because she fought with me to eat ice. She gave me hope. She was a fighter all her life.”
She relived a painful memory when she was called to the hospital last week after her daughter’s health deteriorated. “They had to resuscitate her. She was bleeding internally,” she stated.
Mandy, who was sobbing throughout an interview with Sunday World on Thursday morning, described her daughter’s final week as a roller coaster.
I thought she was ready to be discharged
“One day Marishka would be fine; the next she was bad. The day that Marishka was taken off the ventilator, she looked radiant. I thought she was ready to be discharged,” she said.
“Marishka sent voice notes and video calls to her friends and family.”
Mandy said that she cannot come to terms with losing her daughter in this manner. With a grateful heart, she added that the support from family and friends has been phenomenal.
“My daughter was loved. These past weeks show that.”
Case postponed to March 6
Enraged with anger, Mandy said Harvey must rot in jail for what he had done to the two young women, adding that the deceased had their whole lives ahead of them.
Rayman and Marishka leave behind four children.
Harvey is a drug addict and was drowning in debt, according to a source. Marishka used to pay Harvey’s drug debts, according to another person with close ties to the family.
Harvey appeared at the Roodepoort magistrate’s court on Wednesday, and the matter was postponed to March 6.
