MINENHLE Mhlongo went to play with other kids in her area like she normally did, but when it was late on Wednesday and she didn’t come back home, her family began to worry. A search then began for the four-year-old from KwaMashu M section north of Durban.
At 1am the search was called off and it continued yesterday morning, when Minenhle's body was found with stab wounds on her neck and stomach in a nearby bush.
Aunt Phiwokuhle Mhlongo (38) told Daily Sun when they realised Minenhle wasn't coming back home, they searched for her in the houses at the area but nobody knew where she was. She said the kids she normally played with kept saying they last saw her playing on the road but none of them saw where she had disappeared to. "There are many kids in our area. So they often play together and then when it starts to get dark, they go to their homes. So we were searching for Minenhle in all the kids’ houses.”
She said when they couldn’t find her, they went to report it to the police station. "So, together with cops and our neighbours we searched for her until it was 1am. The search was called off and we continued in the morning." She said Minenhle's body was found in the bush. “We were shattered. We didn’t think we would find her dead. We were hoping to find her alive."
Phiwokuhle said the little girl had stab wounds on the head and neck. "We don't know what happened and we can’t speculate, so we don’t know whether she was raped before she was killled. When we get the postmortem results we will know if she was raped. We don't know what kind of person stabs such a young child. This is really sad.”
Colonel Thembeka Mbele confirmed a child was reported missing on Wednesday. Mbele said the little girl was found dead yesterday and had stab wounds on her stomach and head. "A murder case has been opened by Ntuzuma SAPS," said Mbele.
