Girl, 10, raped and throat slit

2005-10-06 15:57

Mthatha - A 10-year-old Mthatha girl was raped and then her throat cut by her attacker who accosted her while she was walking home from school, Eastern Cape police said on Thursday.

The alarm was raised for Nontombi Timakwe when she did not arrive home from Ikhwezi Community School on Wednesday at 13:00 as usual, said superintendent Nondumiso Jafta.

Her schoolmates said they last saw her at 12:00, so her family and residents of Zimbane Valley began a search.

A security guard on his way to work found her body in an open space at the town's Vulindlela Heights.

She had been raped, had a deep wound on her throat and was still wearing her school uniform, with her school bag lying next to her.

"It was so sad and painful to see an innocent child lying dead, asking myself what has she done to deserve such a brutal murder," Jafta wrote in her report of the crime.

Her attacker is believed to have struck as she took a shortcut on a footpath towards her family's RDP home.

Parents, children told to be safety conscious

Jafta advised parents to make their children walk in groups when walking to and from school. If parents could not provide transport, they should either accompany the children or delegate a trustworthy person to walk with them.

School children should also avoid isolated areas and not talk to strangers who are suspicious.

Jafta's daily crime report also told of a nine-year-old girl who was raped by a 50-year-old herdsman at Mpetsheni, Bizana on Tuesday. The girl had been left at her home with the man while he was looking after cattle.

In Manyenye, Mzimkhulu, also on Tuesday, a 15-year-old girl walking home was grabbed off the road and raped.

In another incident, a 68-year-old woman was raped by a 35-year-old man at Ngquqha, Mthatha, at her home on Wednesday. The man accused of the crime has been arrested.

The murders come at the same time as a number of similar cases around the country, prompting child rights group, Molo Songololo, to call for a special national inquiry into the abductions, rape and murder of young children.

- SAPA