By Everson Luhanga
The heartbroken mother of a three-year-old girl whose body was found wrapped in plastic and dumped in a dustbin cannot understand why anyone would have wanted to murder her daughter.
Zandi Ngwenya, 23, the mother of Melokuhle Ngwenya, whose body was found yesterday at a house in Ratanda, south of Heidelberg in Gauteng, said her daughter brought so much joy to her family.
“Why would someone do such a gruesome thing? Why kill my innocent child? I want justice to be done,” Ngwenya said.
When a woman who rented a room in the yard of the house was questioned by community members and police at the scene, Ngwenya said all she could say was that she was sorry she killed the little girl.
Angry residents wanted to deal with her there and then but the police whisked her away to the Ratanda police station and locked her up.
The incident shocked residents who protested outside the house where Melokuhle was found, with some threatening to burn it down.
Ngwenya said she went to the shops on Wednesday morning and when she came back, she couldn’t find her daughter. “I looked for her everywhere but I couldn’t find her.
“I asked residents to help me look for her but we couldn’t find her. I then went to the police station to report a case of a missing child,” she said.
Ngwenya said police accompanied by residents intensified the search which led them to the gruesome discovery of the body in the dustbin.
A community leader, Bayanda Radebe, claimed that for the past couple of months, several children have been reported missing from different sections of the troubled Gauteng township.
“After an intensified search [yesterday], residents also found the clothes of yet another child [six-year-old Njabulo Mashinini] who went missing in December and has not been found yet,” he said.
In a statement released by Ratanda SAPS, Scrolla.Africa learnt that two illegal immigrants – a male, 33, and female, 37 – were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of murder.
The three-year-old girl disappeared on 3 April from Maphiri Extension 6, and Ratanda police responded swiftly to a missing child report at 3:30pm on Wednesday.
“Police members called in the assistance of the SAPS Dog Unit and after a long party search, the body of the little victim was found in a dustbin wrapped in a plastic bag,” read the statement.
It is alleged by the female suspect that she had a verbal altercation with the mother of the victim after the suspect was caught trying to steal.
The female suspect also said the little girl, Melokuhle Ngwenya, visited her home and during this time, her male friend arrived home. He left the room to go to the bathroom and this is when the female suspect allegedly strangled the victim.
When her friend returned and saw what she had done, he assisted her in placing the body in a plastic bag and placed it in the dustbin.
Both suspects were arrested by the police and will appear in the Heidelberg Magistrates Court soon.
The police pleaded with the community not to spread unconfirmed rumours or false information which may ruin the progress of the case. The community is also urged not to take the law into their own hands and to let justice take its course.
Pictured above: A crowd of community members gathered outside the house where the body of three-year-old Melokuhle Ngwenya was found on Wednesday.
Source: Supplied