PRETORIA - GIRL, 12, TAKEN FROM BED, RAPED & BLUDGEONED TO DEATH WITH A SPADE

Aged just 12, a girl was taken out of her bed, raped and bludgeoned to death with a spade, before her body was buried in a shallow grave in the yard of her family home.

No reason was given to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, as to why Annetjie Phahlane was killed in this brutal manner while her family were sleeping in their RDP home in KwaMhlanga, north of Pretoria.

Her killers, a then 17-year-old who cannot be named and Sikeledi Sithole, 21, both relatives, remained mum as to why they killed her. Sithole maintained that apart from hearing a “muffled scream” during the night, she knew nothing.

The 17-year-old admitted he raped and hit the child to death, but he said Sithole made him do it. According to him, she threatened him with death if he did not rape and kill the child.

But Judge Vivian Tlhapi rejected both their versions and convicted the pair of murder, rape and defeating the ends of justice. The 17-year-old was sentenced to a total of 27 years' imprisonment, of which he has to serve 12 years, while Sithole was sentenced to a total of 35 years, of which she has to serve 15 years.

Annetjie was asleep on December 8, 2013, when she was dragged out of bed, raped and killed. She died of multiple brain injuries.

The court heard that earlier that night she played with her friends outside the house and that she sang hymns that night. The child’s father, Ephraim Leso, testified that he was out that night. When he returned the next morning he was approached by the two accused (who also lived on the property) and a woman only identified as Pretty.

They told him they heard screams the previous night and that the child was not in her bed. The father noticed bloodstains and followed them to the neighbour’s toilet. There he saw clothes and a spade. The police were called and they noticed freshly dug soil. The police then made the grisly discovery.

Another witness testified that she saw the 17-year-old working with a shovel close to the spot where the body was discovered. Several other family members also said they heard a muffled scream that night, but they were all too afraid to investigate.

The court rejected Sithole’s alibi that she and Pretty shared a bed that night, as the latter denied it. The defence of the 17-year-old that he was forced to murder and rape the child was also rejected by the court.

The judge said that neither of the two showed any remorse for what they had done. The 17-year-old said Sithole and the girl did not always see eye to eye, but the reason for the attack still remains a mystery.

VIA - iol.co.za