Those who prey on kids scumbags

As someone who was brought up by the community, I find it difficult to get my head around the ever-increasing tragedy of kids raped and killed by someone known to the family.

Whenever adults were going somewhere they would ask neighbours to watch over me. I would go and play with kids from the neighbourhood.

I would sometimes sleep over there. People trusted each other.

The tragedy of eight-year-old Vutlhari Sithole, who was raped and killed by someone close to the family and a colleague of her grandfather’s, is beyond shocking.

Let’s say this guy had got away with this heinous crime. How was he going to look the girl’s grandfather in the eye every day at work?

Are we heading towards a situation where we won’t allow our kids to go out and play? Are we heading towards days where we won’t allow neighbours and friends to visit us just in case they could be eyeing our little ones?

Whenever I see tweets about a missing girl child, I go cold because I know that the chances of finding her alive are slim. There’s no doubt that this scumbag has hurt the girl’s family in a way no one would want to be hurt.

It’s unbelievable how people like him manage to go on raping and killing in densely populated areas like Lehae, south of Johannesburg. This speaks of people who couldn’t care less.

I still don’t know what a grown-up would find sexually attractive in a child that age. Leaving her body on the side of a busy highway showed he saw that kid as nothing but garbage that he could toss away after using it.

Do people like him deserve bail and freedom to roam freely? I think not. People like him should be given life sentences where they spend the rest of their natural lives behind bars. Richardson Mzaidume

Pimville