“I have fear inside me now,” are the words of a heartbroken man who is desperate for progress to be made in the hunt for the ruthless killer of his fianceé.
But almost two months after the murder of young mother Kelly Bain, 26, in her Port Elizabeth townhouse during a suspected robbery, detectives have made little headway in identifying a suspect.
Bain, the mother of a five-year-old daughter and then just one-month-old baby, died after being stabbed twice in the neck and once in the upper body at her Shabani Road townhouse in Brymore on July 25 while she was on maternity leave.
Her domestic worker, who was busy in the bathroom and heard Bain’s screams, found that when she tried to get out, she had been locked inside.
The baby girl, who was with Bain in the house, was unharmed.
Police remain tight-lipped about the investigation, saying leads are still being followed up.
But for fiancé Christopher Bonus, 34, who confronted the killer inside the house when he arrived home to pay their domestic worker, it is both frustrating and frightening that he is still at large.
Following a scuffle with the man, Bonus found Bain lying dead on the bloodied bedroom floor with the murder weapon – a large knife – near her body.
In an interview this week, Bonus said he has not been back to the house since the murder and has moved in with his parents while still trying to come to terms with Bain’s death.
“I really just cannot go back to the house. Every day is a struggle. It is still so very difficult for me and the family at the moment,” he said.
Police have been unable to prepare an identification kit as Bonus has told investigators he cannot remember what the attacker looks like.
Bonus said it was difficult to get a good look at the man.
“I saw his face but it happened so quickly and I did not stare at him. I have asked them [police] to show me the books of the known criminals they have on record, so I can look at it and hopefully identify the guy.
“I understand it is a waiting game but it is still very frustrating,” he said.
“What worries me is that if he did this so easily to Kelly, what is stopping him from doing this to someone else? It is really scary.
“You read similar stories and think it will never happen to you, until it does. If I did not own my own company, we would have left South Africa already.
“I find myself constantly looking over my shoulder and I am living in fear. I actually have a fear inside me now.”
Bonus said when the police eventually identify the killer, he could be “long gone”.
“The only thing holding me back [from leaving SA] is my company. I just don’t have the heart to walk out. I cannot.”
Asked about hiring a private investigator, Bonus said he was looking into the idea after a friend mentioned it.
Asked about the children, Bonus said the older daughter was coping but knew her mother was gone, while the baby was too young to know.
“She [the five-year-old] is very young but knows that her mom is gone. She misses her a lot and I think still does not completely understand what happened.”
Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said after the attack, CCTV footage from a nearby camera showed a man, who was at the time thought to be the killer, escape by climbing onto a nearby bakkie.
“This was looked into and it is believed the man climbing on the back of the bakkie was a worker catching a lift – not the murder suspect,” Naidu said.
Several fingerprints were found inside the house belonging to individuals who are not on the police database.
As is standard procedure, police have already begun the process of elimination by taking fingerprints from friends and family who would have had access to the house.
The fingerprints on the police’s national database will allow them to identify the culprit if he is arrested for another crime.
Naidu said: “I can confirm that the fingerprints are already loaded onto the police system and are monitored daily in the event that a person is arrested. We are still awaiting the blood work report from the laboratory in Cape Town,” she said.
Asked for clarity on what the domestic worker had heard, Naidu said she confirmed hearing another voice in the house but did not see the attacker