TSHOLOFELO Poo was in tears when she testified about the condition of the corpse of her four-year-old daughter Bokgabo.
She told the Pretoria High Court sitting in the Benoni Magistrates Court on Tuesday, 1 August, that the body of her daughter was badly damaged when she and her mum Refilwe Poo went to identify it at the government mortuary.
“My daughter's left arm was cut in the middle. Her chest had visible stabbed wounds and her eyes were removed. Her face had burnt wounds and it was difficult to see her ears,” Tsholofelo said.
Acting Judge Ian Cox and state prosecutor Eric Sihlangu kept asking if Tsholofelo was okay and she would need time. But she composed herself and told the court she'd continue testifying.
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She said that she last saw her daughter on 10 October at about 7.30am before going to work.
She said when she came back from work, she asked her mother about the whereabouts of her daughter, and she was told she went to a nearby park to play.
She said she then left home to attend a meeting.
“While I was in the meeting, I received a call from my mother telling me that my daughter was missing, and I must come back home,” Tsholofelo said.
She said the community also joined in and they searched everywhere but there was no sign of Bokgabo.
Tsholofelo said on 11 October she received a voice note from the residents' Whatsapp group, saying there was a leg of a child found at a certain house at Tambo section, one of the sections in Wattville.
“I spent six hours at the scene while forensic officials were doing their work at the scene. While we were there, we received a call that a body of a child was found in the area,” said Tsholofelo.
She said she never went to the scene.
She testified that she viewed the video footage which was retrieved by cops at the house near the park her daughter was last seen.
“In the video, I saw my child walking towards the shop, and I also saw the suspect walking side by side with my daughter.
“At some stage, they looked at each other. That's the least I could see from the video which was blurry but one could see my daughter and the suspect," she said pointing to Ntokozo Zikhali who was sitting in the courtroom.
Zikhali’s lawyer, Advocate Anneke Van Wyk, said her client would plead guilty on the first charge of rape of a nine-year-old girl and not guilty on four other charges of murder, kidnapping, defeating the administration of the body, and violation.
The trial will continue on Wednesday, 2 August.
