The Police’s Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit (FCS) in Ceres is investigating the murder of a six-year-old girl, for which a young teen is a suspect.  

The Western Cape SAPS confirmed that a 14-year-old boy had been arrested by the Prince Alfred Hamlet police in connection with “an incident that happened at a farm on Tuesday, 07 July whereby a 6-year-old girl child was murdered”. 

SAPS spokesperson Thembakazi Mpendukana said the suspect was last scheduled to appear in court on 16 July, before being referred to the Ceres FCS.  

“Due to the sensitive nature of this incident, this office cannot reveal any further details regarding it,” said Mpendukana.   

The Cape Argus identified the young victim as Desney Struis from Visgat farm. She was reportedly missing before it was found that her body was allegedly dumped.  

Action Society has called for a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances that led to the incident and what exactly happened that day. Spokesperson Juanita Du Preez said detectives need to establish whether there were risk factors that could have been identified, and if “any interventions could have prevented this tragedy”.  

“At the same time, we must remember that the 6-year-old victim and her family deserve a thorough, professional investigation and justice without unnecessary delays… Because the suspect is a minor, there are strict legal limitations on what may be disclosed publicly and those protections must be respected. However, protecting the rights of a child accused of a crime should never come at the expense of uncovering the truth for the victim and her family,” said Du Preez 

Du Preez added that this incident is especially heartbreaking because one child has been lost and another child is now part of the criminal justice system. 

“This represents a profound failure to protect children… Cases involving children should never be viewed in isolation. They require a coordinated response from law enforcement, social services, schools and communities. We need to identify risk factors early and intervene before another family has to bury a child.” 

Meanwhile, Siya Monakali, spokesperson for the women and children’s rights advocacy group, Ilitha Labantu, suggests that this incident has highlighted how normalised violence is in South African society. 

“The sad reality is that violence has become second nature in our society, and this plague is influencing all aspects of our society… We need to play a greater role in moulding and influencing the boy child so that we don’t have these toxic elements that are influencing the boy child to become violent members of our society,” said Monakali.  

Monakali said this incident should serve as a wake-up call to prioritise the “moulding” and influence over a boy child.  

“Men need to play a far greater role in influencing positively, the behaviours of boy children, so that we do not help to breed the next perpetrators of violence in our society. So many questions ought to be answered about the nature of such crimes,” added Monakali.