THE case against a man (27) accused of killing a five-year-old girl was postponed again to Friday, 11 August.
The man, who is also the child's cousin, briefly reappeared in the Bushbuckridge Magistrates Court on Monday, 7 August.
He had not yet been asked to plead to the charges of murder against him before Magistrate Robert Mokone. On Friday, 4 August he shockingly made a U-turn after he had told the court that he would bring his lawyer and foot the bill.nBut that never happened.
Instead, he told the court that he didn't have enough money to hire a private lawyer. He then opted for a lawyer from the Legal Aid Board.
The man is accused of killing the little girl by slitting her throat before dumping her body in the bushes in Rainbow Village near Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga on Tuesday, 25 July.
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Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said in the afternoon of that fateful day, cops as well as the paramedics in Bushbuckridge received information about the body of a child found in the bushes.
"Upon arrival at the scene, they found the body of the little girl with her throat slit as well as some stab wounds on her upper body. She was unfortunately certified dead by the medical personnel on the scene and police opened a murder case.
"The investigation by the police immediately began. Preliminary investigation indicated that the girl reportedly left home with her cousin to a nearby spaza shop to buy some snacks. However, the family was amazed when the cousin returned alone without the little girl. Further allegations by members of the family indicates that he informed them that the baby girl went to play with other children in the neighborhood," he said.
However, Mohlala said the family was concerned and worried that something could have happened to the child, and it is said that they began searching for her until they sadly made the gruesome discovery of her body in the nearby bushes.
"That was the time when they alerted the authorities. The police in Bushbuckridge arrested the suspect on the same day and then charged him with murder. The investigation against the suspect is still ongoing and it is not yet clear if the girl was raped or not as that will form part of the probe," he said.
