Body of girl, 10, found
Three held – fourth child victim this year in the Eastern Cape
with us.
“But because we knew who this man was, we only started worrying when she was not back by nightfall and that is when we called the police to report her missing,” said Dutywa.
She said she made a follow-up call to police on Saturday morning.
“They told us they were on top of the case and had already arrested three people but the officer did not say she was dead.
“It was only later that we heard the heartbreaking news from one of the family elders,” she said.
Veliswa is a maternal aunt to Liyema’s mother, who is studying in Cape Town and had to be told of the tragedy over the phone.
She said although the school should never have released Liyema to the male relative without the greatgrandmother’s consent, they had forgiven the school, saying everything happened because it was God’s will.
Hawks commander in Mthatha Colonel Loyiso Mdingi said their investigation led them to the forest in Tsolo where they found the relative.
The suspect had claimed to have been hijacked at Sibangweni village while travelling with the deceased.
“However, we were reluctant to believe his story because if they were really hijacked how did he not end up getting killed as well?
“He then led us to the scene, where we found the spent cartridge of an unlicensed 9mm right next to the victim. However we also noted signs of strangulation, which may be confirmed by the autopsy.”
They then took the suspect to the Tsolo police station. After taking a statement from him, police picked up the other two suspects – another man and a woman.
“The second male suspect upon interrogation quickly told us there was no hijacking and further questioning led us to the murder weapon, which they all confirmed belongs to the female suspect’s father.
“They have all confessed their part in the abduction and murder and will appear in court tomorrow [today],” Mdingi said.
Children’s rights activist Petros Majola, speaking on behalf of the Khula Community Development Project, an advocacy group that fights for children’s rights, said they were disappointed the school had released Liyema without her guardian’s consent.
He promised to work with the department of education and investigate the matter.