Many Knysna residents will remember the kindness and gentleness of Flight, who had lived in Knysna for approximately 20 years and owned the Spring Street Gallery before moving to Darling in 2000 where she worked at Pieter-Dirk Uys' Evita se Perron and at Jakkalsfontein Nature Reserve as well as doing book-keeping for several people.
Her body was discovered on Monday, October 29. Filander explained that nobody had reported Flight as missing, but the SAPS have established that her laptop was disconnected on Thursday, October 25 at around 15:00.
Initial investigation indicates that Flight had been strangled. An autopsy report will reveal the exact cause and time of death.
"At first we thought the she had died from natural causes because she was lying on her bed, but when we found the 'beanie' lying at the back door we became concerned that she may have been murdered," he said.
The Darling SAPS immediately called for the assistance of the Western Province Crime Scene Investigation Unit.
"Captain van der Westhuizen is now in charge of the investigation and he and his team cordoned off the house and have been busy working on the crime scene for the past two days," said Filander.
Within six hours of the body being found, the first arrest was made. "We had informed all the banks that the victim's cards may have been stolen and after an ATM in Darling swallowed her card, an employee rushed outside and a bystander pointed to the fleeing suspect." It appears that the suspect had withdrawn cash amounts using Flight's card before her body was found.
This cash, a laptop and DVD player belonging to the victim were found, linking the suspect to the scene. It has been alleged that the 29-year-old suspect was released from prison about a month ago after serving time for another crime.
"We are really proud to have made a break-through in this case so early and expect to make other arrests soon," said Filander.
"I was one of the officers that carried her body out of the home and it has really affected me since then," concluded Filander.
Flight's long-time Knysna friend, Cecile van Wyk expressed her sadness at this senseless murder, saying that Flight, who doesn't have any children, had just found her sister with whom she had lost contact. "Sue phoned, so excited that she had booked and paid for her ticket to visit her sister who now lives in Australia. Now she will never get to meet her niece's new baby either," said a heartbroken Van Wyk.
Van Wyk had fond memories of Flight. "Sue was Susan Armstrong Flight, SA Flight, and used to take great pleasure when she had to board a SAA flight. She would say 'SA Flight', and the attendant would say, 'yes, this was the SA Flight', to which she would reply, 'SA Flight' and the attendant would once again say the same. This would carry on and on until the attendant realised that it was actually Sue's name," laughed Van Wyk.
Liz Bunnet of Knysna said, "Sue was such a good friend. We phoned one another every alternate weekend and she was such a pillar of strength after Dave's [Bunnet's late husband] death," She smiled as she recalled how Flight had celebrated her sixtieth birthday by doing a parachute jump in Stellenbosch.
Trevor, Flight's ex-husband, left Knysna during the late 1990s and moved back to Johannesburg where he too was later murdered.
Members of the SAPS and Western Cape Crime Scene Investigation Unit outside Sue Flight's Darling residence.
ARTICLE: FRAN KIRSTEN, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD JOURNALIST
