The Herald (South Africa)

Chilling video of kids’ last moments

Man handed over to cops after CCTV footage captures him leaving with cousins

- Graeme Hosken

THE image is haunting. Eight-year-old Kefilwe Motaung, wearing her favourite pink top, glances over her shoulder at her cousin as she walks off holding the hand of her alleged killer.

Inseparabl­e from birth, her cousin, Thato Motaung, also eight, runs after her moments later.

Captured on CCTV cameras in Germiston, the images are the last the children’s mothers – sisters Nthabiseng and Refilwe Motaung – have of them alive.

The cousins, who disappeare­d while playing in the backyard of their home on Sunday, were found hidden under plastic covers, bludgeoned to death, in an abandoned building behind the Germiston mortuary on Monday.

Sitting at the spot where the children last played, their grandfathe­r, Lelala Motaung, repeatedly clasped and unclasped his hands.

“I keep thinking I should have done something to stop this,” he said.

“Maybe I should have been more strict with them. Maybe I should have warned them more about not going off with strangers, but he was not a stranger.”

The alleged killer was tracked down by family and handed over to police after a shop owner said his CCTV cameras, which look onto their property’s entrance, recorded him leaving with the cousins.

Another family member, Lazeras Motaung, said the man lived on the property when doing piecemeal work for them.

“He’s not a stranger. We all know him. We trusted him.”

He said CCTV footage showed the man talking to the children.

“Refilwe walks off with him, but you see Thato does not want to.

“He keeps on saying something to Refilwe.

“It looks like he’s shouting at her [Thato], telling her to stay, but she does not listen. He’s so upset.

“Time stands still when we watch this video. We want to tell her to stop but we can’t.”

Motaung said the cousins had wanted to be with each other every weekend.

The children’s mothers were devastated.

“They cannot be consoled. Their worlds have stopped,” he said.

Police spokesman Colonel Noxolo Kweza said a 40-year-old man would appear in court today on murder charges.

He’s not a stranger. We all know him. We trusted him

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