- Meghan Cremer was found dead on 8 August 2019.
- Her mother, Gill, says her life has changed completely.
- A crowdfunding campaign has been launched by her friend Lize Hartley, in her honour to encourage female empowerment, leadership and self-defence skills.
Meghan Cremer, 29, was a horse rider and bakery manager in Cape Town.
It’s been a year since she disappeared from her home on a Philippi farm at the beginning of August. She was accosted in her cottage, assaulted and strangled days before her body was found with a blue ribbon tightly wound around her neck.
It’s been a year since she was accosted, assaulted
and strangled in her cottage on a Philippi farm
at the beginning of August, days before her body was found with a blue ribbon tightly
wound around her neck.
In reflecting on the year since her daughter’s death, Gill Cremer told News24: “Only someone who has gone through this terrible experience will understand the pain that shadows you always. Your life changes completely.”
READ | Murdered Meghan Cremer strangled with blue ribbon, State charges as trial heads to High Court
She’s aiming to attend the trial in October, Covid-19 regulations permitting.
“Due to Covid-19 we have not been able to attend many of the court dates precluding getting the murderer to the High Court but we have wonderful backup from the prosecutors representing our case in our absence. There are no words to describe an experience like this.”
Jeremy Sias, 27, a general worker at the farm where Meghan lived, is accused of killing her. The State claims he put her body in the boot of her Toyota Auris and dumped it on a sand mine, where it was found days after a massive search by authorities and loved ones.
He is accused of stealing a number of her possessions, including her bank cards, cellphones, an iPad and her handbag.
Sias allegedly enlisted the help of Charles Daniels to help him sell the car. Daniels parked the car somewhere where it could not be easily found, and got Shiraaj Jaftha to look for a potential buyer, the State charges.
He will stand trial in the Western Cape High Court and is expected to attend a pre-trial conference on 23 October.
The two met in 2016 and stabled horses next to each other.
“Meghan was a wonderful friend, businesswoman and animal lover. I miss her warm and generous personality and her quick, dry sense of humour. She was the type of person who was always willing to help,” her friend Lize Hartley told News24.
In memory of Meghan, Hartley has started a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for the Justice Desk and their Mbokodo Club.
Hartley hopes to raise R60 000 to allow 60 women to attend the Mbokodo Club project, which focuses on female empowerment, leadership and self-defence skills.
