Man due in court over murder of ex-girlfriend’s 11-year-old daughter

Preliminary investigations indicate that the child might have been raped before being murdered

JOHANNESBURG, September 10 (ANA) – A 31-year-old man is scheduled to appear in the Praktiseer Magistrate’s Court in South Africa’s Limpopo province facing charges of murdering an 11-year-old girl led in the Shushumela area.

Police arrested the 31-year-old on Wednesday at Tubatse outside Burgersfort, Limpopo spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said in a statement.

“It is alleged that on Tuesday … at about 3pm, the victim, who is from Praktiseer township, was playing with other children outside her home when she saw her mother’s ex-boyfriend passing and approached him. The two then left together until it became late, prompting the mother to search for the victim,” Mojapelo said.

Neighbours then told the woman that her child had last been seen leaving with the ex-boyfriend.

She reportedly rushed to his house in Bothashoek, but the suspect denied having information about the child’s whereabouts and even assisted the terrified mother with the search. The lifeless body of the child, with visible injuries, was discovered by a community member in the bush on Wednesday morning, Mojapelo said.

The deceased girl was identified by her mother as Kgothatso Defny Dibakoane.

“The suspect was arrested on the same day at his house after he was positively linked to the incident through forensic evidence. Preliminary investigations indicated that the child might have been raped before the murder. [A] post-mortem will, however, be conducted to determine how she was killed,” Mojapelo said.

Limpopo police commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembi Hadebe has condemned the murder of the girl and has saluted police officers in the area for acting promptly in arresting the suspect.

– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa