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'You've killed my baby!'
12/04/2007 22:51 - (SA)
Alet van Zyl, Beeld
Johannesburg - Robbers demanded money from a young Nigerian woman at a Johannesburg guesthouse after killing her 23-month toddler with a shot to the head.
"But, you've killed my baby!" shouted Nkechi Obiekwe, 42, a chartered accountant from Abuja.
She and her daughter, Tsahai, were staying in the guesthouse after arriving in Johannesburg on Tuesday from a holiday in Zambia.
They were scheduled to fly on to Nigeria on Sunday, because there were no direct flights between Zambia and Nigeria.
Nkechi and her daughter were staying in a security complex in Rosen Street, Corlett Gardens, in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg.
Nkechi, who was taken to a hotel in Sandton on Thursday to get away from the murder scene, told Beeld that she had awoken about 03:30 to find two men standing in the doorway of her room.
"They asked where my laptop and cellphone were. I showed them they were on my side of the bed, next to me. Turned around and saw blood
"The laptop was on the bed next to me because I had used it to play some music for Baby (as Tsahai was called) at bedtime.
"The robber took the laptop and kept saying 'Where's the cellphone? I don't see the cellphone'."
"I was feeling under my pillow to see if the cellphone was there, when I heard a shot.
"I turned around and saw blood on Baby's face and her eye hanging out," said Nkechi of the moment she realised her child had been killed.
The robbers left the room, but returned to demand money.
They fled when Nkechi started screaming.
Nkechi and Tsahai had just spent six weeks on holiday in Zambia.
Wessel Visser, a friend, said Nkechi had taken a longer holiday because she travelled regularly and had wanted to spend some "quality time with her baby daughter".
Amaechi, Tsahai's father, said from Nigeria on Thursday: "It's mad, man, mad. I just don't want to go there (South Africa) anymore."
The family had previously travelled regularly to South Africa.
Visser said Nkechi had bought a newspaper on Wednesday to look for jobs in South Africa.
Forced open a window
Before Tsahai was born, she had tried for 11 years to fall pregnant, and the couple had sought medical help. Eugene Opperman, police spokesperson, said the robbers had forced open a window and climbed through burglar bars with wide gaps.
The electric gate did not work, apparently.
The robbers fled with Nkechi's cellphone, her laptop and a sound system.
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