Kimberley - A Kimberley woman, who has been in a coma for nine years after her fiancé beat her up for apparently cheating on him, died on Tuesday.
Boitumelo Brigitte Mashope, 41, has been in a semi-coma in St Theresa’s Hospice in Kimberley, since 2004.
Her fiancé, Alex “Lemmy” Mokgoro, who is also from Kimberley, was found guilty in 2010 and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, of which three years were suspended for five years.
The incident happened at the couple’s home in Randburg, Gauteng.
The two grew up together in Kimberley, when Mokgoro’s father, ANC stalwart George Mokgoro, and Mashope’s father, Godfrey Mashope, served together in the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature.
Godfrey Mashope said on Tuesday that his daughter, who was born on November 4, 1972, and attended St Boniface High School, had been in a semi-coma since the incident.
“She developed a lung infection on Saturday and died yesterday morning,” Mashope said.
During the trial of Alex Mokgoro, the Randburg Magistrate’s Court heard how he had locked the bedroom and assaulted Mashope, ignoring screams from the couple’s child minder and nephew to open the door.
Mokgoro appealed against his conviction and sentence, stating that it had been a crime of passion, but this was turned down by the South Gauteng High Court in November 2011.
The two families still live in the same street in Royldene.
Mashope had a Bachelor of Social Science degree from the University of Cape Town and was completing a masters’ degree in marketing part-time, while Mokgoro was an information technology specialist, who qualified with his masters’ degree from Bond University in Australia.
Mashope said on Tuesday that Mokgoro had never shown any remorse for his actions.
“No one – not him, his parents, or anyone from the family – ever set foot in our house to say they were sorry about what happened or inquired about my daughter’s health. This was very hard for us because our families were very close.”
“We were family friends and when I heard that my daughter was associating with someone we knew from home, we believed that she would be safe. This type of thing devastates one completely.”
He added that during the trial, the magistrate said that Mokgoro showed arrogance.
“I don’t want to be judgmental but I think they are all arrogant.”
After the incident happened, the doctors told the family Brigitte (fondly known as Bibi) would remain in a vegetative state.
“Although she was not connected to life support machines and only had a feeding tube, we did not know if she could see or hear us.”
Godfrey said the incident had a tremendous impact on the family.
“She had such a bright future ahead of her.”
She was being cared for at St Theresa’s Hospice in Kimberley after spending months in the intensive care unit in a hospital in Randburg, because she required a 24-hour medical care.
Mashope leaves a son from a previous relationship, O’Refiloe, who completed matric last year and is currently studying Medium and Live Performance at the South African School of Motion Picture in Cape Town, as well as her father, Godfrey, and mother, Gwen Mashope.
Her other son, who was fathered by Mokgoro, died just three months after she was admitted to hospice, after picking up a virus, which affected his heart.
The family were still busy finalising funeral arrangements on Tuesday.
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