DAILY SUN FRONT PAGE
Daily Sun (July 31 2013) - CONSTANCE listened to the voice on the phone and realised her worst nightmare had just come true. The first call said her daughter had been raped . . . THE SECOND REPORTED THAT HER SEVEN-YEAR-OLD CHILD HAD BEEN MURDERED.
Constance Mathebula (31) from New Forest Village, outside Thulamahashe, Mpumalanga told Daily Sun she received a call from a man who identified himself as a family friend on Monday afternoon. "He said he has taken Miranda from school and had raped her in the bushes."
"As I stood listening to the voice, I hoped it was somebody making a terrible joke - but I was terrified it might be the truth." But it wasn't a joke. Later he phoned again and said he had killed little Miranda Mayinga (7), a grade 1 pupil at Mpikaniso Primary School.
"He said he had strangled her. He gave me directions to where he had dumped her body in the bushes near the bridge," said Constance. Miranda was later found exactly where the caller said she had been left.
Constance called her father, Julius Mathebula (58) and a search party was assembled to comb the bushes. Julius, who is a local Zion Christian Church pastor, said his granddaughter's naked body was found where the killer said he had left it.
"Her panties, schoolbag, uniform and shoes were scattered about the bushes," he said. "She still had the pantihose that were used to strangle her around her neck. I could not bear to look at her. The sight of her body broke my heart."
Her naked body lay about 100 metres from her schoolbag. Her books were scattered everywhere. Julius said the person who made the call had been living with them since last year, but has now vanished. "This man came to us from Limpopo. He was terribly sick at the time," he said. "We nursed him back to health, and he became a loyal member of our church.
"Nobody would ever have dreamed that he could do something like this." Sitting with his head in his hands, he said: "If only we had known." Captain Nelson Khoza confirmed that a murder case has been opened. He urged Sidwell Mabasa, also known as Mabunda, and as Webbers, to contact cops as he could help with their investigations. Anyone with information should call Mhala Police Warrant Officer Tom Mabunda on 082 7635 796 or 013 7739 080.
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