Former school friends of the young Port Elizabeth mother murdered in her Brymore home last week have started a crowd-funding campaign to help her family and two young children.
The campaign, launched at the weekend, comes in the wake of a remembrance walk on Saturday afternoon for 26-year-old Kelly Bain.
The walk attracted about 200 people, who marched from the Kabega Park police station at about 4pm to the intersection near Makro.
Children and concerned residents as well as family and friends of Bain and her fiancé, Christopher Bonus, 34, participated.
Bain, the mother of a fiveyear-old girl and a one-month old baby, was stabbed in the neck and chest during a suspected robbery at her Shabani Road townhouse on Wednesday afternoon.
Bonus said at the time that he had come home to pay their domestic worker when he was confronted by the attacker inside the house.
The only item stolen during the robbery was Bain’s engagement ring.
Bonus, who carried a candle during the walk, was flanked by several people, some carrying placards reading “Justice for Kelly” and “Stop the killings”.
Organiser Nellie Randall, who also took part in the Justice for Jayde walk in 2015, said the nature of Bain’s murder warranted a community walk against crime and show of support for the family.
Grade 7 school teacher Jayde Panayiotou, 29, went missing in April 2015 and was later found murdered.
Her husband, Christopher, who was found to have arranged the murder, is in prison.At the time of the murder, residents and police banded together for a similar walk.
“I was involved with the Justice for Jayde walk and when I heard about this attack, I felt we needed to do the same,” Randall said.
“We need to create awareness among ourselves and stop crime. We can only do this by joining together.
“This walk came together after I put it out on social media. There was an amazing response from people around Port Elizabeth.”
Randall urged residents to join their neighbourhood watch teams in the fight against crime.
Bain worked as a sales and marketing agent at Pickfords Port Elizabeth.Branch manager Anthony du Plessis, 36, who took part in the walk, said they had all been shattered when news of Bain’s death emerged.
He said he had taken part in the walk to show support for the family. “She [Bain] was such a nice person. It is really hard to believe that this could happen to someone.
“It is such a brutal murder and I feel that we need to show support to the family.
“This has really hit close to home. It could be me or your family next time.”
A relative, who declined to be named, thanked everyone for their support.
“The turnout was great and I was surprised. I think it helps get the message across that we need people to stand together,” he said.
Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said several leads were being followed up.
A crowd-funding page has been set up by a group of Bain’s former school friends from Collegiate Girls High School. “All funds raised will be given to Kelly’s family to help with the two beautiful girls she left behind,” the page read.
By Sunday afternoon, the page had generated almost R5,000. The target is R20,000.
One message on the page from Jessica Greasley said: “Darling Kelly, growing up together was a great blessing, and seeing the woman you turned into . . . RIP angel.”One of Bain’s friends, who established the funding page but did not want to be named, said they wanted to give her two children the same experience they had at Collegiate.
“The 2009 Collegiate matrics were beyond devastated by the news and came together, even though we are all scattered around the world, to do everything we could to honour Kelly’s memory,” she said.
“We felt that approaching Collegiate would provide the opportunity to give Kelly’s girls the same ‘girls of the college’ experience and remember their mom.”
Collegiate High principal Melita Bagshaw said the crowd-funding campaign was endorsed by the school.
“It is a tragedy that has affected the entire Collegiate community,” she said.
A petition, calling on Collegiate Girls Schools to provide a full scholarship for Bain’s two children, was also launched.
Bain’s funeral will be held at Legacy Life Church in Glenroy Drive, Kabega, at 2.30pm on Tuesday.