Slow court pace frustrates grieving Bluff mother

IT has been an endless battle for grieving Bluff mother, Chantal Houghton whose son, Cody died tragically two years ago on 25 February, 2017.
It has been a hard journey for Houghton, as she has fought for justice for her son.
She chose to speak out on the anniversary of her son’s death to not only remind the community of the awful day he was taken away from her and his family but to raise awareness about frustrations with the slow pace of the court case. “I would like to let the community know where we are with the case and also point out the frustrations with the justice system as a whole. How it’s all about the criminal’s interest and not so much about the victim,” she said.

READ: Family vows to get justice for son’s death
Cody was 19-years-old when he died. The last time Houghton saw her son was the night before his death. Cody and two other boys were accused of the theft of a mobile phone from a Bluff tattoo parlour, and were allegedly forced into the shop by four men. The youngsters were allegedly tied up, assaulted and forced to drink unknown drugs. One of four men implicated in his death allegedly exposed his genitals while another brandished a sword.

READ: Toxicology report delays Bluff tattoo parlour murder case
While Chantal and her two younger children were at a petrol station the next morning, she received a phone call to say two boys were at her house, saying they had found Cody and he was battling to breathe. “When I arrived at the house where Cody was, I could see my son lying by the doorway. His lips were blue. I touched him and he was freezing cold. He wasn’t breathing. I could see he had stopped breathing a while ago.
Cody was rushed to the medical centre but “he was already gone before we arrived”. He died of a blow to the head.
Four men were arrested and appeared in court on Wednesday, 1 March 2017 on a charge of murder, two counts of attempted murder and three counts of kidnapping. They were granted bail.

The case has not entered pre-trial as yet, according to Houghton, and it has been moved to a higher court. “But it’s like we are at the same point from where we started two years ago. We are running around in circles. We are having the same problems where the accused don’t pitch up at court so we have to remand the case. The next time one of the other accused doesn’t attend or there is no lawyer for the accused. It’s just endless problems, in an endless cycle with no sight of an ending,” she added.
She said for the bulk of the first year, the state awaited the toxicology report, which stopped any progress. “It was one remand after the next because they were waiting for toxicology results. We had no idea what was going on, nobody told us anything,” said Houghton. Nevertheless, in October 2017, a prosecutor was appointed and the case was moved to S and then U court.

Last year, the family was given a glimmer of hope with the promise of a trial date. But sadly, as of February 2019, they are still waiting. “The hardest part is that I have put my life on hold for this. I am wearing my warrior’s clothes and I feel I have to do a lot of the work in order to get everyone else to do their job. I’m constantly double checking everything that is said to me. Things weren’t moving to a certain pace, everything was a delay, especially with this toxicology report. They are still asking for it. Last year in U court and even now, we were postponed again until 19 March for toxicology.”

The growing frustration of enduring two years of being stuck in limbo has left Houghton feeling like the years never happened, as if she is stuck in 2017 in the same spot.

Houghton can still imagine her son smiling at her as he knew how she would sort everything out, “He knew I always had his back, and I’m sure right now he will be smiling at me and being proud of how hard we are working to get justice,” she said.

DID YOU KNOW?
Click on the words highlighted in red to read more on this and related topics. 
To receive news links via WhatsApp, send an invite to 061-876-3179
The Southlands Sun is also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest – why not join us there?

Do you have more information pertaining to this story? 
Feel free to let us know by commenting on our Facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031-903-2341 and speak to a journalist.

(Comments posted on this issue may be used for publication in the Sun)