Welcome to Unsolved Murders SA, a podcast series where we will be delving into gruesome homicide investigations that, at the time of producing the episodes, were still open.
The objective of this series is to keep the stories of the forgotten alive and, hopefully, help spark a memory for anyone listening in with intimate knowledge of the cases.
The views, information, or opinions expressed in this series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Swisher Post, its parent company and partners.
Some of the content featured in this series describes details of extreme violence. Therefore, viewers’ discretion is strongly advised.
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Unsolved Murders SA: A background on Fatima Patel
Fatima Patel was a 28-year-old mother of three children from Laudium, Pretoria. She and her two sisters, Shaakirah Choonara and Rubina Ghood, were raised by their mother Feroza Choonara.
Growing up, Fatima was very ambitious. She had a fine taste for luxury and while her upbringing was relatively humbling, she always pursued her dream of owning a home with a big enough yard to fit a stable for her white Arabian horse, Chai, and a playground for her children.
Fatima manifested her dreams and between 2006 and 2007, she met the love of her life, and the man who would become the prime suspect in her murder, Rameez Patel.
Rameez is the son of mother Mahejeen Patel. It’s unclear where Rameez originates from but according to our research, he spent a majority of his life growing up in Nirvana, a middle-class suburb situated in Polokwane, Limpopo.
Rameez was a successful entrepreneur with a number of wholesale stores in Polokwane.
He met Fatima through a mutual friend and a year into their relationship, the couple married in what was an intimate wedding.
The newlyweds settled in Polokwane and while Rameez soared in his entrepreneurship ventures, Fatima enjoyed a peaceful life as a stay-at-home wife.
Fatime gave birth to three children who, on the day she was killed, were aged eight, four, and four-months-old.
As a stay-at-home mother, she took pride in the healthy upbringing she and Rameez afforded the children.
Friends and relatives of the couple believed, at the time, that their marriage was strengthened by the true love they displayed for each other.
Rameez treated Fatima with the utmost respect. He bought her every designer handbag and shoes she wanted and, on occasion, funded her international escapades.
Sister Rubina vouched for her sister’s love for Rameez in a 2015 interview with YOU Magazine, where she said:
“She loved everything about him, the way he’d treat her, the way he was with her. He swept her off her feet.”
The children seemed to be growing up in a happy home as well and by all accounts, they adored their mother.
From the outside looking in, Fatima and Rameez were a dream couple. Her family has always indicated that in their interactions and encounters with Rameez, they never saw any red flags.
He always attended family gatherings with Fatima and never displayed signs of violence, at least not around Fatima’s family.
Reflecting on this, Rabina said:
“Rameez was always willing to be with us as a family and never had any issues. Of course, like every couple, they had ups and downs. A marriage isn’t a marriage if you don’t have a bit of a tiff. But no one ever thought something like this would come of it.”
What would later be used in court as part of the State’s argument in support of Rameez’ propensity for violence, was that in his spare time, he was a cage fighter.
Cage fighting, or mixed martial arts, is a full-contact sport which takes place inside a cage or similarly enclosed arena.
To make the argument for how violent the sport is, since April 2019, there have been seven recorded deaths resulting from sanctioned cage fights and an additional nine from unregulated bouts.
In an conversation between former UFC fighter Danny Downes and renowned s port columnist Ben Fowlkes, a question was asked, Does MMA create violent people?
Fowlkes’ input, as a former MMA fighter-turned-columnist, was very interesting and could hold crucial perspectives on how Rameez’ character ought to be observed. Responding to the question, Fowlkes said:
“Think about what makes someone, in our view, a “violent person.” It’s usually not how skilled they are in the application of violence, but how quickly they reach for it as a solution to every problem. I can’t say it’s not possible that all this MMA training only prepares people to think of a violent response as the appropriate one in every situation, but that seems way more like a defect of character than like something you learn in a gym.”
Did Rameez have anything to do with the murder of his wife? What exactly transpired inside the Nirvana house on that fateful day? And, perhaps, more importantly, did Fatima die at the hands of a burglar or was it Rameez who, in a fit of rage, obliterated his wife?”
Much of these questions will be the anchor in our assessment of the murder and subsequent investigation.
Did Rameez Patel murder his wife? – Here’s what we know
Fatima suffered an unimaginably violent death on 10 April 2015. She was only 28 years old.
Police were called out to the house where Fatima resided with Rameez and their three children after neighbours heard screaming and what sounded like a gunshot.
One of the first people to enter the house was Gawie van Botha, a security patrol officer. Testifying at the murder trial in 2016, Botha told the court that when he entered the house, he found Fatima bleeding in her husband’s arms.
Describing Rameez’ demeanour, he said:
“He was calm, he did not go crazy, he was just sitting holding her.”
Rameez was drenched in his wife’s blood and from his observations, Botha believed Fatima was still bleeding profusely, possibly clinging onto what was left of her life.
Botha was instructed by Rameez to go upstairs and check if the intruder who supposedly killed his wife was still in the townhouse.
Botha made a thorough inspection of the property and determined that if and intruder had been in the house, he was long gone.
Except, something was amiss. Botha told the court that he found no signs of forced entry and, as far as he could tell, no windows were broken in the house.”
He added:
“The whole kitchen was full of blood, from the sink, the curtain rail was on the floor with blood. On the fridge door, there was a bullet inside.”
Fatima’s body was bagged and transported to a forensic pathology centre in Polokwane, where Dr Arnold Mamashela performed the autopsy.
In his report, Dr Mamashela revealed that a bullet discharged from a 9.8mm firearm struck Fatima on her right cheek, above her lip, and exited the back of her head.
The gunshot wound caused caused bleeding in her ears, in her eyes and her mouth. Fatima’s hyoid bone, a U-shaped bone in the neck which supports the tongue, was also crushed, meaning before the shooting, she was choked.
Moreover, Dr Mamashela also observed that the victim’s jaw had been dislocated and her cheekbones were shattered as a result of blunt force trauma.
This injury, it came to be found, was caused by a baseball bat she was struck with during the ordeal.
When questioned, Rameez claimed he arrived home on that day and found his wife lying in a pool of blood.
Police were told Fatima was killed by an armed man in what turned out to be a botched robbery.
Captain Mohlaka Mashiane from the Westernberg police district also testified at the trial. He revealed that, immediately, Rameez was treated as the prime suspect in his wife’s murder.
Mashiane told the court that during interrogations, Rameez could not provide a solid alibi on his whereabout the day his wife was killed.
He only told police that he was outside, within close proximity to the house, and ran to check on his wife when he heard the gunshot.
Interestingly, however, and what continues to baffle police is, immediately after Fatima was killed, Rameez got out of his bloody clothes, took a bath and changed into a new outfit.
Reflecting on this bizarre behaviour, Mashiane said:
“Immediately after the shooting of his wife he took a bath. That’s something abnormal. You find your wife in a pool of blood and instead of calling the paramedics and the police you take a bath? We find that amazing.”
Bizarrely, soon after stumbling on his wife’s body, Rameez travelled to his uncle’s house and took a bath, effectively washing away the blood and trace evidence. He left the clothes he wore behind at his uncle’s place and according to Mashiane, he changed outfits on three occasions that day.
Police were sure they had the person responsible for killing Fatima. The victim had defensive scratch marks on her face. Coincidentally, Rameez too had similar scratch marks on his neck.
He could never explain how the marks came about.
Six days later, on 16 April 2015, Rameez was officially charged with the murder of Fatima.
Unsolved Murders SA: Fatima Patel murder investigation
Following a series of postponements in his court appearances, Rameez was released on R250 000 bail and was ordered to report to the police station three times a day.
At the time of his arrest, Fatima’s family could not bear the thought of Rameez being responsible for his wife’s brutal killing.
However, when the details of his questionable story started crumbling in court, the family became convinced that he was the culprit behind their daughter’s vicious death.
Farook Choonara, the uncle of Fatima, reflected on the last time he saw his niece in an interview with City Press in May 2015.
It was during the Easter weekend and in conversation with Fatima, he had asked her if she was happy and she’d agreed.
Reflecting on the conversation, he said:
“I somehow sensed that she was not telling the truth because her eyes told a different story. She promised to visit me on Wednesday and I was hoping to have a talk with her in the hope that she would open up.”
That Wednesday came and went without Fatima returning as promised. Farook, at the time, figured she had returned to Polokwane.
In part, he was right. However, Before heading back to Nirvana, Fatima made a pitstop in Centurion, to spend time with her sister Rubina.
Rubina, during her interview with YOU Magazine, had revealed that Fatima arrived at her home with her children that fateful week.
It was school holidays and the kids were enjoying a fun time with family. Fatima was supposed to stay longer but, according to Rubina, she cut her stay short by a day since she wanted to surprise Rameez by returning home early.
She believed Rameez would be ecstatic to see her and, anyway, his mother-in-law, Mahejeen needed help packing for an international trip.
Feroza was in contact with her daughter at the time and she revealed, in the same interview with YOU Magazine, that Fatima had asked her to come along to Polokwane.
Unfortunately, in a decision that still haunts her, Feroza declined the invitation, stating that she had to attend a wedding that weekend.
Reflecting on her last encounter with her daughter, Feroza said:
“My last conversation with her was that Thursday she left. Sometimes I feel if maybe I went with her it wouldn’t have happened. If maybe we left with her on Friday she would not be gone.”
Fatima left Rubina’s residence on the morning of Friday 10 April 2015 and made the 288km trip to Polokwane.
Hours later, in the afternoon on that same day, Shaakirah received a gut-wrenching phone call from Rameez’s cousin, breaking the tragic news.
When Rubina called Rameez in an attempt to understand what had happened, his uncle answered and said there had been a break-in and Fatima was killed by a burglar.
While this claim never sat well with Fatime’s family, they were not prepared for the shocking revelations that came during the trial.
This brings us to the end of Part 1 of this episode.
