A Benoni man accused of murdering his wife with a cross bow has been ordered to stay in prison but under strict observation. Thirty-nine year old Shameema Moghammad Shamoon was found in a pool of blood in the home she shared with her husband on the East Rand in April this year.

The 40 year old suspect appeared before the Benoni Magistrates Court on the 26th June. The state prosecutors will be investigating the accused state of mind at the time of the murder.

The victim’s grieving sister Nisa Dawood said there had been very little developments since her brother-in-laws arrest.

“The court still has to decide what process will be followed in this case, therefore, after the strict observation, they will have a better idea of his [suspect] mental condition,” Dawood said.

Dawood has since been troubled with questions regarding the murder of her sister. In the events leading up to the murder, there had been no warning signs that her sister’s life was in danger.

Shamoon was said to have been happily married and had a normal relationship with her husband. They even shared the occasional arguments yet nothing deemed unnatural in the slightest bit, Dawood recalled.

It was only until the moment Dawood’s family received the dreadful call from the victim’s son that worry began to set in.

According to Dawood, the family was unable to make any contact with the suspect or discuss the case with anyone for now. However, Dawood is still plagued by the unanswered question of “why” her brother-in-law killed her sister.

Shamoon had been making her evening salah when she was shot. She sustained two punctures to her heart. Her son narrowly escaped the crossbow himself before calling nearby family for help. VOC (Ra’eesah Isaacs)