Muslim girl under police guard

2003-03-05 18:59

Johannesburg - A young Muslim girl who was shot in the back earlier this week and found on the Old Potchefstroom Road in Lenasia lying next to her dead mother, has been placed under police guard, Soweto police said on Wednesday.

Captain Mbazima Shiburi said he could not disclose why such measures had been taken to protect the eight-year-old girl. He said her life could be endangered if any more information about the case was made public.

Police spokesperson Director Henriette Bester said: "This is the only survivor of a very serious incident and naturally we won't disclose information to protect the child's life."

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Johannesburg hospital where the girl was being treated said the child's condition had stabilised and that she was no longer in intensive care.

The girl was discovered late on Monday night lying unconscious in a pool of blood next to a woman believed to be her mother. Shiburi said the mother had been shot several times.

Nothing was stolen from either of the victims. The dead woman was dressed in traditional Muslim clothes and her cellphone and jewellery were intact when police discovered her body.

The very next day, the body of yet another traditionally-clad Muslim woman was discovered on the Old Potchefstroom Road, just four kilometres away from the original crime scene.

Like the earlier victims, she too had been shot dead and nothing was stolen from her. Police would not disclose if the two incidents were related.

- SAPA