Times Of Swaziland: THREE-YEAR-OLD MURDERED, MUTILATED

THREE-YEAR-OLD MURDERED, MUTILATED
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BY SIBUSISO SHANGE on 20/02/2019 00:58:00


LAMGHABHI ETIYENI - A Hlophe family and residents of LaMgabhi Etiyeni were left
dumbfounded when a three-year-old child was found dead with some of her body
parts missing.
The corpse of Senzelwe Hlophe was found in tall grass near a big rock, which is
surrounded by trees, at a distance of about 100 metres from her homestead. Next
to the corpse was a kitchen knife, which, according to some family members,
belonged to the family.
It was observed that the scene where the corpse was found is surrounded by
homesteads situated approximately 100 metres away.
There is also a foot path which is about 50 metres from the scene. When this
reporter arrived at the scene, about 50 people were already there. Among them
were the elders of the Hlophe family and the local authorities.
View corpse
They were given an opportunity to view the corpse before it was taken to the
mortuary. A police who was in charge at the scene, who only identified himself
as Fakudze, warned the residents against spreading unverified news about the
occurrence.
“The standard procedure is that you are allowed to view the corpse before we
can proceed with our job. Yours is to view the corpse without making any
comment. There are signs that the child did not go there on her own accord,”
Fakudze said briefly. First to view the corpse were the family members.
This publication observed that some of the child’s body parts were removed.
These were her private parts, ear, and parts of the brain. While viewing the
corpse, Fakudze warned the residents to look very carefully and take note of the
items which came from their houses.
“Nibukisise kahle nitobona nanaku lokuphuma letindlini tenu,” Fakudze said
loosely translated ‘look carefully so that you can see what came from your
houses’.
The condition of the corpse left a majority of the residents with the impression
that the minor was killed for ritual purposes.  Some suspected that the child
was killed by someone close to the family.
Went missing
In an interview with Senzelwe’s mother, Sindile Mkhonta, she said the child
went missing at around 11am on Monday. Mkhonta said the child was sleeping in
the kitchen while they were working in the fields. She said upon their return
from the fields, they discovered that the child was missing together with the
knife which was left in the kitchen.
Mkhonta stated that they called the police on their emergency line 999 and
reported the child as missing before a search was commissioned.
However, another relative alleged that the police officer who received the call
informed them that police acted after 48 hours if a person had been reported
missing.