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The uncle of Sharnelle Hough (17), who was murdered along with her best friend, Marna Engelbrecht (16), in Stella in the North West, on Monday shared a cellphone video the two girls made.
Louis Hough (47), elder brother of Sharnelle’s father, Ronnie, posted the short video on the Facebook group Geregtigheid vir Sharnelle & Marna (Justice for Sharnelle & Marna).
“My best friends, I miss you,” Louis captioned the video.
Sharnelle, aka Lallie, was like his own daughter, he says, and Marna also spent a lot of time in his home.
Lallie and Marna, both Gr 11 pupils at Stella High School, were strangled in the early hours of Saturday 26 May in the school hostel.
Xander Bylsma (19), Sharnelle’s ex-boyfriend, is set to appear in the Vryburg magistrate’s court again on 6 August. He’s being charged with murdering the girls and trying to make it look like a suicide pact.
Sharnelle was found hanging by a rope from the bannister and Marna sitting against the bath with the sling of a handbag tied around her neck.
Xander was arrested on the day the girls’ bodies were found and has been in custody ever since. He hasn’t applied for bail, allegedly because he fears for his safety.
Louis told YOU in an interview that if Xander committed the murders, he didn’t want him dead. “He must die every day. He must suffer for a long time,” he said.
He also showed YOU the cellphone video in which the two girls are pretending to sing a Taylor Swift song. He told YOU the two besties used to love goofing around. Sharnelle would forward him videos to make him laugh.
The other girl in one of the videos is Louis’ daughter, Linmari (19), Sharnelle’s cousin. He says she and Sharnelle were like sisters.
But watching the videos now makes him cry, rather than laugh.
Watch the video here:
