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Silence Broken: Dead penguins: Girl breaks silence

By Amalie Niland

Committing a most callous crime had turned a 16-year-old East London girl into the most hated person in East London and possibly the rest of the country. Even more disturbing is that there seems to be no reason for the killing of eleven penguins and two pelicans at the East London Aquarium on 27 May this year.

Fransina or Maraai as her friends and family know her is expected to be sentenced on Tuesday after she pleaded guilty and was found guilty by the magistrate court last month. So far she is the only one who has owned up to the senseless brutality. The case is progressing slowly but police has taken two suspects in for questioning this week following the investigation of private investigator Christian Botha.

But life has not been a bed of roses for this teenager from the West Bank. She left school at the age of twelve after completing Std 5. "My parents do not work and cannot afford to keep me in school," Fransina said.

Friend and neighbor Tanya Fisher has taken Fransina in on many occasions and also paid for her school fees last year. "She never skipped a day of school in that one term while she was living with me. Things were looking good and then all of a sudden she stopped going to school."

Mrs Fisher said it was because she could not handle the discipline. "She moved back to her parents where she could do as she pleased. "Maraai walks all over her mother and father," said Mrs Fisher while Fransina listened grinning from ear to ear.

Once again Fransina is staying with the Fisher family until the courts have decided what is to become of her. Her mother and father live in her uncle’s house across the street. "Fransina has problems with her uncle, that is why she is staying with me," said Mrs Fisher. Sources revealed that he too have had it with Fransina and all the media attention.

Mrs Fisher, a young wife of a traffic officer and mother of two, barely twenty herself has vowed to get her friend back into school. "I just love her to bits and keep on forgiving her even though she has hurt me more often than not." said Mrs Fisher.

Her husband, Mr Clinton Fisher has on many occasions threatened to ban Maraai from the house after many episodes where his wife was reduced to tears after trying to help Maraai get back on her feet. "She likes going out, staying out late which I did not allow while she was staying here with me," said Mrs Fisher

"I decided to let her live with me again because we are both being threatened by the people involved in the penguin case." Mrs Fisher has laid a charge of harassment against Sean Nass after an incident last weekend where two men, one of whom was allegedly Sean Nass tried to climb over her garden wall. A neighbor also witnessed the incident.

In the Special Assignment programme that was aired this week Maraai denied knowing Sean Nass. In the programme Sean Nass said that he had no involvement in the killings and Maraai suddenly backtracked after accusing him earlier and later denying that that she knew him. She also confessed to the Special Assignment team that she killed one of the pelicans by ringing its neck.

This came as a shock to private investigator Christian Botha who also only heard it on the programme. "This was the first I heard about killing anything." However this week Meraai again changed her story and said she was threatened by the accused and had to lie. She also denies killing the pelican or having any involvement in the killings. "I froze when I saw what was happening."

At this point Maraai refused to talk any further and made her way to her room to get dressed. Throughout the interview she was sitting in blue silk pajamas and gown. It is hard to believe this girl is only 16. She looks much older than her age. She emerged a while later stern faced dressed in a small open back white top and black pants. Soon enough she was smiling again playing with one of the children. The seriousness of the case lost on her.

Fransien asked Mr Botha to take her to see aquarium curator Willie Maritz. He is due to testify in court next week. Mr Maritz confirmed that she was at his office. On a previous occasion she asked to do community service at the aquarium and said she was sorry about what happened.

She also denied working as an Escort, as was said in the Special Assignment programme, but claimed that was only working as a bar lady at an escort agency. The owner of said escort agency agreed to speak to East Cape Weekend on condition that the identity of the staff and the name of the business are not revealed.

The owner confirmed that Maraai worked as an escort. "She only worked for a couple of days before we found out that she was underage. She certainly looked much older and knew all the tricks of the trade." It was apparent to the owner that she had been working as an escort before. "I was horrified when I realized she was so young."

"I did not question her about her age because her mother confirmed that she was 18 and her father visited her every day to see if she was alright."

The owner said they tried to get her a job as a flower seller, which Fransien laughed off, and also tried to get her a job as a waitress on the beachfront but she was to young to waitress.

"We encouraged her to tell the truth about the penguin killings because there was talk that she would be getting money for the story. It would have been an opportunity for her to get out of the business and go to college. She wanted to."

"She is not a bad girl, but has been abused so much in her short life that she does not know right from wrong anymore. She needs professional help," said the owner.

END

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