HOURS before Julie Rajpaul was found dead, her daughter heard her pleading with her partner over a call to let her go.
She said if anything happened to her, “he did it”.
Six hours later, the police called Sasha Rajpaul, informing her that her mom had committed suicide.
This emerged during proceedings at the Durban Regional Court on Monday, when Sasha testified in the murder trial of her mother’s alleged killer, 50-year-old Ashley Mahadeo.
He had pleaded not guilty.
Rajpaul, a correctional services officer at Westville Prison, was found slumped over the toilet seat at her North Beach flat on October 26, 2023. She was 48.
At the time, it was believed the mother of three had used a jacket, tied to the burglar guard on the window above the toilet, to “commit suicide”.
However, the following month, Mahadeo, a mechanic and Rajpaul’s partner of seven years with whom she shared the flat, was arrested and charged with her murder.
A post-mortem report confirmed Rajpaul’s death had been caused by “manual strangulation”.
According to the charge sheet, the State, represented by prosecutor Tiyani Mabasa, alleged that Rajpaul’s death resulted from physical abuse, as per the definition of domestic violence in the Domestic Violence Act.
Sasha, 25, testified that she, her mom, and Mahadeo, whom she considered her “stepfather”, previously lived in Tongaat.
She said the relationship between her mother and Mahadeo was initially good, but after four years, their relationship deteriorated.
“There was verbal abuse. He used to pick up things and throw them at my mother. They argued a lot,” said Sasha.
Image: Supplied
She said her mom and Mahadeo later moved to the flat in North Beach, while she moved in with her grandmother in Tongaat.
She testified that she first spoke to her mother on October 26, 2023, sometime between midday and 1pm.
“She (Rajpaul) was at work when she called me. We spoke about her finding a new place to stay. She found a place in Morningside and had paid the rent in advance. She was going to move in that Friday (the next day).”
Sasha said she spoke to Rajpaul again at 4pm.
“She called to tell me that she had packed all her stuff and that I should come help her move into her new house the next day. I said I would.”
Sasha said she received a call from her mother at 8pm.
“They were arguing; they were swearing. She was screaming and crying. I could hear everything in the background. She wanted him to let her go. She said to me, ‘Sasha, tell him to let me go’. I told him to let her go. The call ended.
“After a little while, she called me again. It was quiet. She told me she was going to sleep, and that if anything happened to her ‘he did it’. She said she wrote me a letter.”
Image: Nadia Khan
Sasha said she received a call from a police officer at 2am.
“He (police officer) said my mother committed suicide. I was shocked because I knew she would not have done something like that.”
When asked if she spoke to Mahadeo after receiving the news, Sasha said she did not.
“I did try to call him that night, and messaged him to see if my mother was okay. Her phone was switched off from 9pm. I tried calling, calling and calling him. The accused (Mahadeo) did not call to tell me my mother died…”
Cross-examination
Under cross-examination, Mahadeo’s legal representative, Advocate Sphamandla Ngcobo, questioned Sasha on whether she had proof that Rajpaul had acquired a new place.
“Do you have the lease or some documents?” he asked.
Ngcobo also asked Sasha if she knew of an incident where her mother and Mahadeo had been in an accident.
“The accused will tell the court that your mother tried to commit suicide by jumping out of a moving vehicle.”
Sasha said she was not aware.
Ngcobo said Mahadeo would also testify that Rajpaul tried to jump off a cliff on the South Coast.
“He insisted he held her back.”
Sasha, however, responded that she was the one who held her mother.
When asked why she held her, Sasha responded that Rajpaul was crying and that she was comforting her, not because she was trying to jump off.
Ngcobo asked Sasha again why she held her, to which she said: “Because she is my mother.”
He put it to Sasha that Rajpaul was suicidal.
Ngcobo told her that Rajpaul had also divorced her husband (Sasha’s father) as he was abusive. He said Rajpaul suffered a spinal and neck injury and was hospitalised during her previous marriage.
However, Sasha said she was not aware of this.
She said her parents had disagreements, but her father was not abusive.
Ngcobo said Rajpaul was seeing a doctor and was taking depression medication.
Sasha responded she was again not aware.
Magistrate Sharon Marks sought further clarity about the incident on the South Coast. Sasha explained that Rajpaul was not standing on a cliff, but on rocks near a beach.
When asked why she (Rajpaul) was standing there, Sasha said: “They had an argument. She was crying, so I was comforting her. I was holding her.”
Marks also asked about the letter her mother apparently wrote to her.
“She said she wrote me a letter, but it was not a long conversation. I did not get a chance to ask her as she cut the call. I did not speak to her again.”
The letter was never located.
The trial continues.
