Brenda Elizabeth Fairhead

Brenda Fairhead (1954 - 2000)

Brief overview:

Brenda (46), and her daughter, Kiara Jessica Fairhead (Kia) (11), were abducted on 16th January 2000, while they were packing up their fishing tackle on the banks of the Fish River, in the Eastern Cape. Their bloodied battered bodies were found 24 hours later in a ravine in the Keiskamma Pass. The hijacked vehicle, a blue Pajero, was found in the Frankfort area. Brenda had been raped, bludgeoned, strangled and stabbed in the heart. She sustained a total of 34 injuries from head to toe. Young Kia was strangled to death.

Nigel, Kia's father, had not gone fishing with his wife and daughter that day as was getting organised for the long drive, from Nigel's nieces Kleinemonde cottage they were staying at, back to Constantia in Cape Town.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Street/Suburb
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
  • Three youths were arrested - brothers Zolani Tom (21) and Bongani Tom (22), and a 17-year-old, who could not be named due to being a minor. They were charged with murder, robbery, abduction, rape and indecent assault.
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction
  • In June 2000, Nigel, his eldest daughter, Vashti, and family members, spent nine days and many hours, in the Port Alfred Circuit Court, listening to chilling details of the final four hours of hell that Brenda and Kia had to endure. Judge Joop Labuschagne presided the case, advocate Malherbe Marais appeared on behalf of the State, and Advocate Naude Visser is represented the minor.
  • On 14th June 2000, Judge Joop Labuschagne sentenced Bongani and Zolani Tom, and their 17-year-old co-accused to two life sentences each for the murders. The brothers were also given life sentences for Brenda's rape. For other crimes committed, robbery with aggravating circumstances, attempted indecent assault of a choled, and kidnapping - Zolani received an additional 33 years, Bongani an additional 30 years, and the teen a further 28 years imprisonment.

Additional Biographical Information:

Nigel, who arrived in South Africa with his family when he was two and a half years old, met Brenda in 1976 when he had just started his company Fairheads. Brenda was an Australian nurse in South Africa en route to Kenya. He was a Hatha yoga teacher at the time and Brenda attended one of his classes. They ultimately ran Fairheads together, with Brenda overseeing the shops and Nigel on the manufacturing side. Although Nigel had started out as a hippie sandal-maker, Fairheads was a huge success with boots and sandals manufacturing.

Links to Media articles:

• http://archive.is/0vHzg
• http://archive.is/G7UsK
• http://archive.is/KIRPU
• http://archive.is/zDgD4
• http://archive.is/OK143
• http://archive.is/UEJ8F
• http://archive.is/kHvWU
• http://archive.is/Oh3JY
• https://web.archive.org/web/20010709153254/http://www.homestead.com...
• http://archive.is/UbLNA
• https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/weekend-post-south-africa/...
• https://web.archive.org/web/20030702031240/http://www.dispatch.co.z...