HUNDREDS of mourners came to pay their last respects to little Melokuhle Ngwenya.
Mourners condemned the heartless killer and appealed for justice.
The two-year-old girl had gone missing, and her body was later found in a neighbour's dustbin on 3 April.
On the day she went missing, her mum Zandi Ngwenya (23) from Ratanda in Heidelberg, Gauteng had an argument with the same neighbour who sneaked into her home through the window.
After being caught by Zandi, neighbour Penina Sambo jumped out of the window to flee into the neighbourhood.
She was found and confronted by Zandi to explain why she sneaked into her home, but Penina couldn't give a proper answer.
Five hours later, Melokuhle was found in her dustbin after she pretended she had nothing to do with the toddler's disappearance. Penina was arrested after cops came to search her place with police sniffer dogs.
"Before the discovery, she had been constantly denying it, and yet Melokuhle was last seen going to her place," Melokuhle's mkhulu, Linda Ngwenya, said.
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Linda said the truth only came out after police took her in for questioning her and some officers went to her place to search.
"She has destroyed Zandi and us. It was someone we trusted, and a woman who has five children. We never thought she'd do this to our baby," said the grandfather.
Penina made a brief appearance in the Heidelberg Magistrates Court on Monday, 8 April, and the matter was postponed to Friday, 26 April.
Community leader Nomvula Majola said as one of the GBV activists in Ratanda, they had been deeply hurt by how Melokuhle died.
"It's sad that her death came at the hands of a woman whom we expected to protect her."
Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo said a murder case was opened, and the woman and her boyfriend were arrested. But the boyfriend was released after he was found not to be linked to the murder.
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