Girl, 2, raped and murdered

2008-03-01 20:18

Cape Town - A 30-year-old man was arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a two-year-old girl in Cape Town, police said on Saturday.

Police named the girl as Randaline Fortune from Valhalla Park.

"A 30-year-old man was arrested by the Bishop Lavis police this morning (Saturday) at about 11:30 in the Cape Town Airport industrial area," said police spokesperson Billy Jones.

Jones said that the girl's mother had gone to work at a nearby spaza-shop on Thursday and had left the child in the care of her sister.

The suspect, her neighbour, had come to fetch the little girl at about 13:30 and was alone with her in his home till 19:00.

"He took the child home wrapped in a blanket and told her family that something was wrong with her. He told them that the child had dirtied herself and that he had disposed of her underwear."

The mother was told by a family member to come home because something was wrong with the child.

The child was taken to the Elsies River Day Hospital where she was declared dead on arrival, Jones said.

A doctor at the hospital indicated that the child had possibly been raped.

A post mortem would be conducted to determine the cause of death as well as if the child had been raped, police said.

The suspect will appear in the Bishop Lavis Magistrate's Court on Monday on charges of murder and rape.

- SAPA