The accused was arrested by the police at his residence in Jan Kempdorp in the Northern Cape last week.
A 26-YEAR-old man made a brief appearance in the Kgomotso Magistrate’s Court in connection with the rape and murder of a four-year-old girl at Kgomotso village near Taung in the North West.
The accused was arrested by the Kgomotso police on Thursday last week at his residence in Jan Kempdorp in the Northern Cape.
The victim’s naked body and clothes were found in the veld near Kgomotso village on Sunday, May 16.
North West police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Amanda Funani said that the accused is a colleague of the girl’s mother, and he had accompanied the mother from a tavern to her friend’s house, where her daughter was sleeping, on Saturday evening.
“The accused allegedly waited for the mother to fall asleep, then kidnapped the child and took her to the nearby bushes where he raped and killed her,” said Funani.
The accused made a brief court appearance on Monday and will remain in custody until his next court appearance.
Funani added that the police were investigating the possibility of charging the mother with negligence.
The acting provincial commissioner of the North West, Major-General Dintletse Molefe, has meanwhile applauded the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Detectives for the “sterling job” they did in making an arrest within five days after the gruesome incident was reported.
Molefe said that brutal killings such as this cannot be tolerated and that the police will continue to work hard to ensure that they secure a conviction.
