Only a few hours into the 16 days of activism campaign against gender-based violence, the KwaSobabili community of Ntabamhlophe are riddled with shock following the gruesome decapitation of a six-year-old child.
The child’s body was discovered by her uncle on Thursday evening, 25 November. Police told The Ladysmith Herald that the suspect was last seen leaving the homestead with a blood-covered plastic bag. The child’s uncle then rushed to the rondavel where he found her decapitated body hacked into pieces.
Police explained that it was a gruesome sight to witness which left most responding officers sick to their stomachs. Members from the Ladysmith K9 Search and Rescue unit along with divers from Pietermaritzburg spent most of Friday morning, 26 November, searching the area where the suspect was last seen. Information obtained led divers to search the murky waters where they managed to recover the severed head of the child. Members of the community had gathered along the banks of the river and police added that the family had been in complete shock.
A 20-year-old suspect was later arrested and charged with the murder of the child. KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC, Nonhlanhla Khoza, has called for the full might of the law to be exercised. “We condemn with the strongest terms possible such a barbaric act of this heartless criminal who murdered an innocent child. The gruesome circumstances of this case, where it is said that the child’s head was separated from the body, shows that the suspect had planned his act,” said MEC Khoza.
It is reported that a heated argument had broken out between the child’s uncle and the 20-year-old suspect. The child’s uncle explained to police that the child was asleep and only checked on her when he saw the suspect flee the rondavel with a bloody plastic bag. “Whatever could have been the issue between the adults, the child was never involved. It is very painful that the child has suffered and died like this,” she said.
MEC Khoza said a team of social workers rendered psychosocial support to the family and will continue until the family is able to cope after their traumatic experience. The team will also visit the little girl’s school to provide counselling to the educators and learners. “Our province has a lot of heartless criminals and we don’t understand where this extent of anger that leads to people treating children and women so violently emanates from. We have a number of murder cases of women and children. In some cases the killers are not found,” she said.
A case of murder is being investigated by Ntabamhlophe SAPS and the suspect is set to appear in the Estcourt Magistrate’s Court.
