Limpopo Businessman Convicted of Brutal Wife's Murder After Decade-Long Trial
Polokwane – A wave of relief has washed over the family of Fatima Patel, following the conviction of her husband, Rameez Patel (38), for her murder. After a protracted 10-year legal battle, Judge Joseph Raulinga of the Polokwane High Court delivered the verdict on 25 November 2025, convicting Patel, a former respected Limpopo businessman, of murder, illegal possession of a firearm, and possession of ammunition without a licence.
The conviction marks the culmination of one of South Africa's most drawn-out murder trials, stemming from the brutal killing of 28-year-old Fatima in April 2015 at their Nirvana home. The mother of three was strangled, beaten with a cricket bat, and shot in the face.
The crime was made all the more shocking by the calculated deception that followed. Rameez initially staged the scene to appear as a home invasion, fabricating elaborate stories about intruders before changing his account multiple times.
On that devastating April day, neighbours reported hearing a gunshot followed by a woman's scream. Security officer Gawie van Botha arrived at the scene to find a horrific sight. "He was calm, he did not go crazy, he was just sitting holding her," Van Botha testified. "The whole kitchen was full of blood… On the fridge door, there was a bullet inside." Fatima was found in a pool of blood and declared dead at the scene. An autopsy revealed blunt-force injuries, a dislocated jaw, signs of strangulation, and a fatal gunshot wound to the face.
Rameez initially told investigators that Fatima had been attacked by intruders. "I tried to save her. Nothing was taken because… I guess they just wanted her," he claimed. However, he was arrested after police noticed inconsistencies in his story. Investigators found no signs of forced entry, and Rameez's behaviour raised suspicions – he had visited his uncle's home to clean blood from himself, changed his clothing multiple times that day, and refused to surrender his clothing to authorities. A cricket bat was also discovered hidden in the ceiling of the couple's home.
The most damning evidence, however, came from Rameez's brother, Razeen, who had fled to the UK after surviving two assassination attempts in 2018. He returned to South Africa to testify about Rameez's confession. He told the court that Rameez had admitted to killing Fatima and entrusted him with a box of evidence, including blood-stained clothes and a handgun, to hide. "He threatened to kill me if I decided to tell anyone. I told my dad about two days, three days before he died. I told my mother a few weeks before she died," he said.
Tragically, their father, Firoz, was killed in August 2016, and their mother, Mahejeen, was shot dead in their home in September 2017. Rameez was arrested and charged with his mother Mahejeen’s murder, but the case was withdrawn in 2021 due to insufficient evidence. Police suspect he had killed her after she confronted him about murdering Fatima. Meanwhile, his father Firoz's killing was initially reported as an armed robbery, but police investigations found nothing was stolen after the suspects fled. The murder remains unsolved, and no arrests have been made.
Rameez's alleged reign of terror was laid bare in court during his murder trial. Two key state witnesses – his domestic worker and a general worker at his business – opted out of the witness protection programme and fled the country, fearing for their lives. During proceedings, investigating officer Constable David Nkuna also revealed that Rameez had been implicated in two previous murder cases – one involving a teenage boy who broke into his home and another involving an Ethiopian man. Rameez wasn't tried for either incident as one of the cases was withdrawn and the other was treated as mob justice. The court also heard that Rameez, who owns several wholesale outlets, was a professional cage fighter – a detail that wasn't lost on Fatima's family. "What kind of man enjoys beating up people until they bleed?" says her father, Farouk Choonara. "In cage fighting, you beat up people to hurt them."
The case, which began in 2016, was plagued by delays, contradictions, and mysterious disappearances of key witnesses under police protection. Rameez, who was out on R250,000 bail, even remarried while the legal system struggled with missing evidence and his web of lies. The breakthrough came when his own brother, Razeen, testified that Rameez had confessed to Fatima’s murder and threatened to kill him if he revealed the truth. Delivering his verdict, Judge Raulinga described Rameez as someone who had systematically tried to pervert the course of justice.
Rameez and Fatima met through a mutual friend as young adults before marrying and having three children. On the surface, they appeared to be the picture of domestic bliss. Rameez, who managed the family’s supermarket business, often showered Fatima with gifts such as flowers, designer bags and overseas trips. But court testimony would later reveal the cracks beneath this façade – the couple frequently argued over Rameez’s extramarital affairs, creating escalating tensions that would end in murder.
For Fatima’s family, the brutality of her death remains incomprehensible. When they arrived in Polokwane that fateful night, they couldn’t believe how badly disfigured she was. "It was like something out of a horror movie," her sister, Rubina, told YOU through tears. "She was tiny. She was all alone and probably screaming for help. She couldn’t fight – she wasn’t a fighter."
With sentencing scheduled for December and life imprisonment looming, the conviction brings some measure of closure to a family torn apart by unthinkable betrayal. But for Fatima’s mother, Feroza Choonara, the pain remains raw and immediate. “Every night at 9pm I wait for the call from my daughter that used to come almost without fail,” she previously told YOU. “I hear the phone ring and my heart leaps, thinking perhaps it’s her – only to feel the crushing reality set in again. The silence is unbearable and each missed call is a painful reminder that she is truly gone.”
As Rameez faces life behind bars, their three sons remain the most innocent victims of this tragedy. The children – aged eight, four and just four months at the time of their mother’s death – are now in the care of her relatives, growing up without their mom’s love. “They are still very young,” Feroza said. “We do everything we can to give them some normality, but every day carries reminders of what they lost."
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