Johannesburg - January 23, 2023 is a date permanently etched in the memory of Elie Challita.
Just a little more than a month ago, Challita, 34, was driving home to Mulbarton, Johannesburg, after he had been house hunting in Polokwane, Limpopo.
He was praying that his 23-year-old live-in girlfriend, Amber Hughes, a preschool teacher at his daughter’s crèche, would not make good on her threat:
“ You broke my heart, I am going to burn yours”.
Challita, who had been unemployed for a while, was recently offered a job in Polokwane and was planning to move there with his 4-year-old daughter. But on that Monday, his life changed in the most dramatic way.
“I was so freaked out while I was driving back to Johannesburg. I kept begging Amber not to hurt my baby. My car even overheated. It was crazy. After a while she stopped replying to my messages. She just blue-ticked me (on WhatsApp). In her last message to me she said she loved me and that she was sorry,” said Challita, choking on his tears.
“She was losing her mind and demanded that I drive back to Johannesburg immediately. She was hysterical. Something she said struck me and I immediately left Polokwane to come home,” he said.
The bereaved father said he was unaware that his girlfriend had cloned his WhatsApp chats and was in possession of communication between him and other women.
“Our relationship was very dysfunctional. We were on and off for 14 months. I did not cheat. She only had chats,” said Challita.
While driving back, the frantic father got hold of friends and asked them to check on his daughter.
“When my friends arrived at the house they could not get in. I screamed at them to break the gate and doors to get in. My friends said they found Amber sitting on the couch. She was soaked. They found my daughter floating face-down in the bath. Amber’s father also arrived at the house. I don’t know how he got there and how he knew what was going on. Amber told my friends she had drowned baby,” he said.
Little Nada-Jane Therese Challita was rushed to hospital but declared dead on arrival, while her father was still on his way back home.
In all the chaos, friends later told Challita that Hughes said it was an accident and that she didn’t do anything.
A neighbour, Marlene Groth, told Independent Newspapers that Challita had full custody of his daughter.
“He is a lovely man and we knew that he was looking for work. I believe his girlfriend accused him of cheating but I don’t have all the details. He still lives in the house but I am not sure for how long. We all rallied around him and helped where we could,” she said.
Challita said he planned to sell his house because he wanted to get as far away from where the tragedy happened.
“I am burning everything. How can I stay here? My daughter’s mother lives in Cape Town. I could not even tell her what happened to our child. I told her mother to tell her. I flew them both to Johannesburg for the funeral,” he said.
Hughes appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on February 2 for her bail application. The State opposed her release on bail, saying she was a danger to herself and her release could lead to public unrest. Her next court appearance is on March 29.