2 days ago
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The family of a three-year-old girl whose body was exhumed from a shallow grave is shattered that someone they trusted and frequently shared a meal with has been taken into police custody in connection with the murder.
Little Peaceful Khoza’s body was exhumed from a shallow grave in Pienaar, outside Mbombela in Mpumalanga, yesterday.
She went missing on Wednesday.
Her exhumation came just a day after the body of Junior Mabandla, six, was discovered buried in someone else’s grave at the local cemetery.. The body of Junior, who had been missing since June 3, was found with legs missing, his family said.
Siviwe Welcome Thulare, 18, was apprehended on Wednesday and provincial police spokesperson Col Donald Mdhluli said he was in a critical condition after he was assaulted by members of the community, and was under police guard.
Peaceful’s uncle Aubrey Khoza said they had positively identified her body, shortly after it was exhumed, adding that they wanted to know how she was killed. “We didn’t get to see her whole body because she was partially burnt. We identified her by her T-shirt and her face. We are shattered and don’t know what to do. We want justice,” he said.
“The person who has been taken into custody [Thulare] is the best friend of Peaceful’s father. We shared meals with him in our home."
Peaceful’s parents wept uncontrollably at the scene.
Her aunt, Khethiwe Khoza, who had been looking after her on Wednesday, said the young girl went out, and she thought she had gone out to play and would not go far.
“When I came out to look for her, she was not there. I went around asking neighbours if they had seen her and one lady told me she saw her walking with this man, who is our family friend.
“We tried to locate him but when we found him, he said he didn’t know where Peaceful was. We took him to the lady who said she saw him with the child and the lady told us that he had changed [his] clothes” she said .
The aunt said more community members came through and they started beating him up and he then took them to the area where he had buried Peaceful.
“In the process he also showed where he had buried Junior ,who had been missing for more than a month and Junior’s family identified him and dug his body out.
“What’s very sad is that we ate together with him [Thulare] and he spent most of his time with us. The [Khoza] kids knew him and going with him was not a problem,” she said.
Khoza and community member Senzo Mashele said as he was being assaulted, Thulare allegedly told them he had killed more children, and he pointed out Peaceful and Junior’s shallow graves. “He told us he was working with some relatives. We had to calm the community down. He could have been killed but we wanted him to tell us where he had buried the children,” said Khoza.
Mdhluli said the police had handed over the information regarding allegations of other murders to the investigating team, including a matter that there was a child who has been missing for two years.
Mashele said Thulare led them to an abandoned RDP house owned by his relative. “There, he showed us where he buried Peaceful. We dug a bit and saw a body... He told us that Junior was buried at the cemetery and when we got there, he pointed us to a grave which has been there for two years and we found Junior’s body in a shopping bag,” he said Mashele, adding that Thulare told them he and the relatives were harvesting body parts.
Mdhluli said their investigations were ongoing and would reveal if there were other people involved in the murders.
“We have not yet charged the man [Thulare] but he’s one person who is gonna shed light about the deaths of these two minors [Peaceful and Junior]."
Junior’s uncle, Thapelo Sishaba, said the boy wanted to be a cop. "He played cop every time. He said he wanted to become one to arrest criminals," he said, adding that the family was saddened.
“We can’t comprehend this but we are thankful for the community to have helped us find our child. We looked for the whole month with the community, and the police also sent a helicopter but we could not find him.
“What’s surprising is that this man [Thulare] was with us when we were searching for Junior, and he didn’t even find it in him to tell anyone about what he had done until yesterday [Wednesday] when he was beaten up and he confessed.
“We are happy that we will finally bury our child but let us say that when we found him in that shopping bag, his feet were cut off."
