Just like they lived their lives, the funeral service of Brandon “Puff” Kalicharan, his wife, Jeconiah Naidoo-Kalicharan, and their nine-year-old daughter, Jecaida, was a flashy but sombre affair.
The extended Kalicharan and Naidoo family had planned to celebrate Jecaida’s 10th birthday party yesterday.
Instead, they laid her to rest, five days after the family were gunned down in an apparent gang hit in Durban’s Springfield Park.
They were in the industrial area, known for its factory shops, to shop for items for Jecaida’s birthday.
“I can’t believe you are turning double digits in 5 days time,” Jeconiah posted on social media just hours before they were killed.
“Please stop growing,” she added.
As the heavens opened in Durban amid a thunderstorm yesterday, the elaborate funeral procession, made up of three winged hearses, slowly snaked its way through the streets of Chatsworth to the funeral service.
Thousands of onlookers lined the sides of the roads as the sound of bagpipes pierced the air.
Brandon and Jeconiah’s coffins were Versace inspired, with dollar bills and guns and surrounded by pictures of the couple draped in jewellery and fur.
Jecaida’s coffin had pictures of her smiling and pictures of her favourite cartoons.
There was not a dry eye to be seen as her coffin left the service hall for the last time.
Police are investigating the murder of the Kalicharans.
Brandon, police said, was a person of interest and was known to be involved in drug and gang activities in Chatsworth.
He ran the 11th Street Gang – named after the unit in Chatsworth he was from – and built a drug distribution empire that supplied drugs to street gangs across Durban.
Kalicharan’s entry into the cut-throat world of gangs and drugs began in the early 2000s when he left his job in a clothing factory shop to work for Kelvin “Kellys” Naidoo who owned Phat Funk Clothing shops in Chatsworth and Phoenix.
Police sources say the legitimate shops were mere fronts for a lucrative drug racket.
Naidoo was murdered in drive-by shooting in 2008. During that time, Kalicharan took over the illicit operations of the business.
IOL