UNCLE PLEADS GUILTY TO RAPE AND MURDER OF 6-YEAR-OLD NIECE
A 27-year-old man pleaded guilty in the Pietermaritzburg High Court yesterday, to the kidnapping, rape and murder of his six-year-old niece on 12 February 2023. The incident took place in the Mtwalume area near Umzinto. In his plea the man said that on the day of the incident, he had been working at the child’s granny’s house, digging a pit toilet. At some point, the pick handle broke and the granny advised him that she would borrow another pick from her neighbour. He then asked her for money to buy cigarettes from the nearby shop. The child was also at the shop as she had gone there to buy some items for her mother.
On their way back he told the child to follow him and they will take an alternate route home. As they were walking, he decided that he would rape her, and raped her twice. When he was done, the child told him that she was going to report him to her granny. He said that at this point he decided to kill her and strangled her until she stopped moving. He covered her body with some sand and returned to the house where the granny asked him if he had seen the child. Even though he said that he had left her at the shop, some community members accompanied him to the police station where he confessed to his actions and was arrested.
The matter was postponed to 1 March 2023, for sentencing proceedings.
