Mom identifies burnt body of her child
HER young body was found in the bush, burnt and with a visibly swollen neck.
And when Lindiwe Nkosi identified the body as that of her daughter, who had not come home the previous day, the devastated mom knew she would never have peace again for as long as she lived.
The body was burnt beyond recognition, she said yesterday, but there was no doubt that the body was that of her 11-yearold daughter, Noluthando, who went missing in Soshanguve on Monday.
“I could not recognise my baby girl as she was severely burnt. All I could see were the teeth and the shoes she wore, because I knew all her clothes.”
The girl had been visiting her grandmother’s house and went out with her friends to buy vetkoeke.
The friends told her family that she decided to head home to see her older brother, Nkosinathi. She never arrived and was found dead in Soshanguve the next day.
Devastated and heartbroken, the girl’s mother said her daughter was usually home before 6pm. But on Monday when the mother came back from work she was surprised to find she was not home, and when the grandmother confirmed Noluthando was not with her, she panicked.
They went to the police station that same night to report her as missing. “My family and the community went out in their numbers to search for her, blowing whistles, calling out and making noises to attract her, but with no luck.”
Nkosi described the night her daughter went missing as an emotional nightmare and the longest night of her life.
The community and family resumed the search on Tuesday morning. At about 4pm, Nkosi got the call that would break her heart. “I got a call that they had found the body of a child in the bush. I ran there praying it would not be the daughter I gave birth to.”
Nkosi said residents stopped her from getting close, saying the child was lying burnt on electricity cables and there was evidence that her body had been set alight.
She still had to identify the charred remains of her child.
“I could not recognise my baby girl on that day. I told the forensic pathologists that this was not my child but asked them to show me her clothes, and to my horror I recognised her shoes and teeth, and I knew it was my girl.”
Nkosi said she wanted justice for her child. Noluthando’s brother was also traumatised: “He doesn’t want to go out as he’s afraid that whoever killed his sister will come for him,” she said.
Police communications officer Constable Matsobane Mabusela said the investigation into the case was ongoing.
The grisly find follows the disappearance of Soshanguve teacher Philile Gumede in April.