Mourners wept softly at the funeral service for the young Port Elizabeth mother who was stabbed to death by an intruder in her Port Elizabeth townhouse last week.
The Legacy Life Ministries Church in Kabega Park was packed to capacity on Tuesday afternoon with friends and family of Kelly Bain, 26, with others unable to fit inside.
A picture of a smiling Bain was beamed on a screen above the church’s stage.
Her white and gold coffin, adorned with white and green bouquets, was in the centre.
Bain, the mother of a five-year-old girl and a one-month-old baby, was on maternity leave at home when she was attacked on Wednesday last week in the Shabani Road townhouse in Kabega Park that she shared with her fiancé, Christopher Bonus, 34.
According to police, the only item stolen was her engagement ring.
Her uncle, Johann Saayman, said the family had been left with more questions than answers and might never know the reason for her murder.
Paying tribute to his niece, Saayman said Bain, who would have turned 27 on Saturday, was a perfectionist.
“I vividly remember when she passed matric, I asked her what she was going to do with her life,” he said.
“Her answer to me [was that] there were so many things she felt she needed to do and that she didn’t know what to choose because, she said, ‘if I do it, I want to be able to do it better than anybody else’.”
Saayman described Bain’s murder as a senseless and ruthless act of violence.He said it had been “a very hectic week for the family”.
“What has happened to Kelly rocked the foundation of our faith,” Saayman said.
“We find ourselves questioning God, asking ‘why, why Kelly’ when she was in the prime of her life.
“A young mother of a fiveyear-old and a one-month-old baby who will never have real memories of her mother.”
Bonus recited a poem which he said he had written in memory of his slain partner.
In it, he described Bain as “my love, my heart”.
“You are my soldier, my saviour, my life. My heart beats for you and it always feels right,” Bonus recited.
“You are never far away – you’re always with me every day. In my heart and my soul you will stay.
“My heart is crying out for you to hold and touch. I miss you so much.”
Bain’s mother, Judy, wept as she gazed at the coffin.
“I stand today before my Lord and Saviour, asking Him to give us strength and wisdom as we raise your two beautiful daughters as I know you’d want them to be – loving and kind and compassionate, and most of all, that they will serve the Lord,” Judy said.
“Lord Jesus, today I stand before you and would like to say thank you for the most precious gift you gave me.
“Kelly, you have been a joy and sunshine in my life.
“I have always been so proud of you and honoured to call you my daughter.
“You have always been my beautiful, colourful, butterfly.
“You have now taken flight,” Judy said.
She promised that she would “continue to love and raise your two little daughters who remain with us”.
Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said the case was still being investigated and no details would be provided until there was “a positive outcome”.