6-year-old found dead

2005-10-07 09:38

Johannesburg - Eldorado Park residents are outraged at the police's initial response to the disappearance of a six-year-old girl who was later found murdered, 702 Talk Radio said on Friday.

Soweto police spokesperson Superintendent Thembi Nkwashu declined to comment on the report, saying Provincial Commissioner Perumal Naidoo was on his way to view the scene.

Michaela Lee went missing from a neighbour's home in Eldorado Park, in southern Johannesburg late on Thursday afternoon.

After an all-night search involving police, emergency services and the community, her body was found just metres away from her home on Friday morning.

"It's understood she'd been mutilated," the station reported.

Community leader Yasseen Hyatt has told 702 Eyewitness News Michaela went missing around 17:00 but that the police only started looking for her five hours later.

Hyatt lashed out at the police saying she might have been found alive if the Eldorado Park police station had reacted immediately.

Instead they told the parents to wait 24 hours.

Hyatt says her parents and the community are devastated.

- SAPA