Provincial Serious Violent Crime Detectives have made a breakthrough in the murder case of a five-year-old who was murdered on Sunday, 16 August, in Sweet Home, Samora Machel. Police announced on Monday evening that a man and a woman, one of whom is a relative of the girl, have been arrested for the murder.

Police say officers were called to Duinefontein Road on Sunday morning at around 08:20, following the discovery of the little girl’s body. She was found with a stab wound to her neck in a dustbin.

Provincial SAPS spokesperson, Captain F.C. Van Wyk, said Samora Machel police registered a case of murder for further investigation.

“… following the discovery of the body of a five-year-old girl with a stab wound to the neck on Sunday,” said Van Wyk.

Van Wyk noted that a man and a woman were initially brought to the local police station to provide more information about the incident.

The Samora Machel Community Policing Forum (CPF) noted that the incident occurred in the Vukuzenzele (also known as the Sweet Home) informal settlement.

The CPF and the community were deeply shocked by the incident and appealed to locals not to resort to taking the law into their own hands.

“As the CPF, we are still shocked about what happened to the innocent child, and we are calling on the residents to calm down and leave everything to the law to deal with it. We are crying with the family who lost their loved one,” read the CPF’s statement.

Spokesperson Xolani Joja said he has further appealed to the community to instead assist the police by providing any information that can help the investigation.

“We are trying to calm this family down and the community. We must just leave the police to deal with this matter, then they will give us feedback,” said Joja.

He added that they suspected the killer was a known person, but that the CPF will leave the matter to the police to investigate and will await feedback from detectives.

“We are still traumatised, asking ourselves what this innocent child did to this world. A five-year-old child…”

The 35-year-old male and a 40-year-old female suspects will appear in the Athlone Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 18 August, on murder charges.

*This article was updated with the latest developments in the incident, with reporting by Liesl Smit.