Durban - The community of Inanda, Durban, is in shock after the discovery of the body of a 6-year-old girl on the banks of the Inanda Dam on Tuesday morning.
Thiwe Masengeni was last seen on Monday around 3pm in the yard of her home with her 8-year-old sister. It is alleged that a man known to the two sisters took them away from their home towards a school nearby in Umzinyathi, north of Durban.
Their visibly distraught mother, Nombuso Masengeni, said the morning the two siblings went missing started like any other and ended in anguish.
“We woke up like any other day at the start of the week. Nothing was uncanny about our morning which could have warned us about the tragedy. What is most shocking is that my kids were playing in the yard, and one minute they were gone. We checked if they were not in our neighbours’ homes. Now we had neighbours assisting us in locating the kids. Our efforts proved to be unsuccessful and we then called the police,” said Masengeni.
She said police could not act on a missing person report until the 24-hour period had lapsed.
“After the police had told us about the rules, the community came out in numbers to help find my daughters, however, we could not find them the entire night,” she said.
#sapsKZN Yesterday police divers from DBN SAPS #SAR along with Metro Police SAR were called out to Inanda Dam for a body recovery. The body of a 6yr-old girl who went missing on Monday was found floating in the Hyacinth weeds near the edge of the dam in the Umzinyathi Enyoni. ML pic.twitter.com/GalyRIIlch
— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) March 2, 2022
Around 10am on Tuesday, a neighbour, Ne Goba, who lives just past the school, called the Masengeni family to inform them that the 8-year-old was with them and was crying hysterically.
“The older sister came in the morning and was crying out of control. She was naked, so my first instinct was to get her a clean towel, for warmth. Quickly, I called her mother, because I know these children, they have been to my house and played in the yard. When they got here, she explained that they were taken by a man who is known to them, but not by name, to the bushes and stayed there undressed the entire night,” said Goba.
The 6-year-old was beaten, strangled and thrown into the river, said Goba.
“There is a cloud of great loss and tragedy over the community. It was a shock to us that someone could do something so heartless to children,” said Goba.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Nqobile Gwala said a case of murder was opened.
“The police have opened a kidnapping and murder docket, at the Inanda police station. The body of the deceased has been sent to a laboratory for examination, among other things, if the victim was raped,” said Gwala.
Daily News