The family of a 12-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and strangled last month, said they would not rest until the long arm of the law had taken its course.

Ponani Mashaba’s lifeless body was discovered in the bushes between Nkavele and Xikunduville, outside Malamulele, on Friday, 23 February. She was a Grade 4 learner at the local Hangalakani Primary School.

Three suspects, Risimati David Chauke (21), Khazamula Meshack Macebele (21) and Akani Surprise Mashaba (18), allegedly broke into the house, kidnapped, raped and strangled the innocent little girl while her father was at work. They briefly appeared in the Saselemani Periodical court two weeks ago and they are still in custody, pending police further investigations.

The murdered girl’s father, Phillip Mashaba (48), told Mirror that it is not easy to cope with the pain of losing his beloved beautiful girl to the criminals. "Our family abides by the law of the country and we will never take the law into our own hands. Now that the suspects have been arrested and have appeared before the court, we are only waiting for the case to be finalized to our satisfaction, although we know that our daughter will never come back. The people who murdered my daughter deserve to rot in jail because what they did is inhuman and unacceptable. Why did my beloved daughter have to die in such a senseless manner?"

Phillip recalls the day of the shocking incident with pain: "I separated from the mother of my five kids and I stay with the children. As a security guard at the local bottle store, I went to work as usual, without suspecting anything. I was shocked when family members came to my workplace and told me that my daughter had been kidnapped. Together with the police, we conducted a search for the whole night but we could not locate my little girl." Phillip said the search continued in the next day. "We were then alerted that the body of my daughter had been found in the bushes. I never expected that she would die so soon."

Phillip says the family is grateful for the support from different stakeholders who have been rallying around them since the death of their little girl. "We have witnessed massive support from the police, government officials, our traditional leaders, and members of the community."